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Thomas Hamill Awaits Homecoming; Fighting in Najaf; Israeli Settlers Mourn Killing of Woman & Her Children

Aired May 03, 2004 - 13:57   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Damage control, more U.S. service members in trouble after photos showing alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
He gave up his NFL career and ultimately his life on the war on terror, this hour, remembering Pat Tillman.

Is your computer ready for the Sasser? Well, a new worm trying to do a number on your PC.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Philips. Miles is off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

Focus on photos, those shocking depictions from the depths of a Baghdad prison are still sending shockwaves from Baghdad to Washington and beyond. President Bush ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to throw the book at any U.S. forces found to have tortured, tormented or humiliated Iraqi prisoners of war.

Alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib was disgusting -- disgusted, rather, U.S. and Iraqi officials, not to mention the ordinary Iraqis whose hearts and minds the coalition so hopes to win. So far the Pentagon has reprimanded a half dozen soldiers and hauled up a half dozen others on criminal charges.

The commander of U.S. military police in Iraq, herself officially admonished, says military intelligence agencies -- or military intelligence agents, rather: carrying out prisoner interrogations deserve much of the blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. JANIS KARPINSKI, U.S. ARMY RESERVES: One of the most despicable aspects of those pictures, those faces on those soldiers, those soldiers who belong to one of my MP companies, absolutely; I don't know how they do this, I don't know how they allow they allowed these activities to get so out of control, but I do know with almost absolute confidence that didn't wake up one day and decide to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: You can see the rest of Karpinski's interview with CNN on "AMERICAN MORNING," 7 a.m. Eastern, 4 Pacific tomorrow.

Captivity led to opportunity for a U.S. civilian truck driver taken hostage in Iraq almost a month ago, and finally to freedom. Today Thomas Hamill, the most famous former dairy farmer from Macon, Mississippi, is being greeted, treated and debriefed at the U.S. Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

CNN's Chris Burns is there.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, that's going -- under way over my shoulder right now at Landstuhl Medical Center here. This is where usually a lot of U.S. troops who are injured in Iraq come though here, are being cared for on their way home. Mr. Hamill is undergoing the same thing, being looked at for a bullet wound to his right arm that he suffered in that April 9 ambush on the fuel convoy that he was driving in.

At this point, he is to be met by his wife some time perhaps as early as today. His wife Kellie, who is coming over here to take him back to Macon. And take a look at the house that he was in about just a day earlier, when he fled from that house where he was being held by his captors.

He saw his golden opportunity when he heard a U.S. patrol outside that was looking for a broken pipeline. Well, he made a break for it, broke through the door and went for that patrol. Here is some of the account from some of those soldiers who greeted him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was waving his hands and shouting, he fell a couple of times. He walked up to the truck and, you know, I don't know exactly what he said when he got here but -- when he got to my soldiers, but he was obviously very glad to see us. And once we found out -- we recognized who he was, we knew we had gotten somebody good.

He was obviously very relieved once he realized we were Americans. He was yelling: "I'm an American, I'm an American, I'm an American POW!" At a distance, it was obvious that he was unarmed, so we did not have our weapons trained on him. He had his hands in the air waving his shirt around. So he was yelling: "I'm an American!" As he got closer, we found what he was yelling. And as I said, once he got close up, we immediately recognized him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we picked him up, he was elated. He was happy to see an American patrol. His actions at that point in time were to address his wound. He took the patrol back to the house. The gentleman here represent the unit that were on the ground at that time. As soon as the house was searched and he identified it, we put him on a medical evacuation and he was lifted out of the area at that point in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNS: Doctors are expected to have some kind of a diagnosis for Mr. Hamill by tomorrow morning. We hope to have more for you by then, to perhaps give a better idea of when he'll be able to go home for his hero's welcome in Macon, Mississippi, population 2500. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: They're already planning. Chris Burns, thanks so much.

We want take you live to Ramstein air base in Germany where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is addressing U.S. troops. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: ... this must be quite a change now since you're now in politics, I mean, going from show business to politics, what a change. I tell them, no, it's actually pretty much the same, you see, because both of them deal with fiction, both of them are always behind schedule and they are always overbudget. So there's not much difference at all between the two. So I got used to it.

But I was a little depressed when I left Los Angeles because I saw the latest numbers. Our school system is terrible. Have you seen the latest statistics? Now 85 percent of all the second graders cannot even spell simple words like Schwarzenegger. Yes. It's like amazing. So we have to straighten out our education, there's no two ways about it.

(LAUGHTER)

SCWHARTZENEGGER: People ask me always, just so you know, they ask me always, do I still lift weights? Of course I lift weights. What, do I look like chopped liver or something like that? Hey, last week I still lifted 285 pounds, 285 pounds. I lifted Teddy Kennedy out of his chair.

(LAUGHTER)

SCWHARTZENEGGER: But anyway, it is wonderful to be here again and I tell you, as you know, I'm the governor now of the state of California, and I'm having a great time.

(APPLAUSE)

SCWHARTZENEGGER: I am having a great time, I tell you. And the people, of course, sent me to Sacramento to create action. And that's exactly what I'm doing, action, action, action, jobs, jobs, jobs. That's what we're doing.

But what was interesting about it was that when I was campaigning for governor, they could not understand why I would leave the movie business and get into politics and run for governor. They always ask me that, how can you leave behind $20 million, $30 million that you are getting for a movie, a salary, and then go into politics where you get paid nothing?

And I always try to explain to them that it was because our state was deteriorating, that it was my obligation to go and participate in the arena of politics and to get in and become governor. Because everything that I have gained, everything that I've gotten in my life was because of America, it was because of California. I wouldn't have any of the things that I have, the money, the career, my family, nothing, without the United States and without California. And this is why I felt obligated to give something back, because when I think about it, when I was a kid, when I was a little kid, my dream was to come to America. That's all that I dreamt about was coming to America, coming to California.

And so the question was always, how can I do it? And then luckily I stumbled onto bodybuilding.

PHILLIPS: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, addressing U.S. troops there at Ramstein air base in Germany. He had been in Jerusalem where he helped dedicate a planned Museum of Tolerance. He then went along to Jordan and now pumping up the troops there in Germany.

Well, the volatile, ever-changing situation in Najaf pierced by a new barrage of mortars and bullets today. It's the most concentrated attack to hit U.S. troops since they moved into strategic positions around the holy city.

Our Jane Arraf is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: U.S. military officials say this was the most intense attack on this U.S. Army base in Najaf since they got here about three weeks ago. It started at about 1:00 in the afternoon with a barrage of mortar fire. Over the next few hours, between 20 and 30 mortar rounds were fired, including, the commanding officer here says, mortar rounds that they have pinpointed coming from the courtyard of a mosque in nearby Kufa. They say they did not fire back.

Attack helicopters were sent in from a nearby base. They took fire from rocket-propelled grenades. They returned safely to base according to officials. There were no coalition casualties. But officials here say they killed at least seven suspected members of the banned militia loyal to radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, including four people, they say, who were firing mortars from a nearby field.

Now firing has come from almost all directions of this place, which also houses the Coalition Provisional Authority, civilian officials who are here trying to set up Iraqi control and Iraqi government again.

Now, those negotiations now seem a distant hope with these ongoing attacks by suspected members of the militia that are not expected to end as evening falls.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from a U.S. Army base in Najaf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Other news across America starts with a sentencing hearing. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, an alleged aide to Osama bin Laden, will be sentenced for a stabbing of a prison guard in 2000. The guard was permanently disabled this that attack. Salim also faces trial for the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa.

Feeding the meter, for the first time in eight years, taxicab fares are going up in New York. So if you hop in the back of a yellow cab today, expect to pay 26 percent more for that ride.

Protecting your PC, a new computer worm called Sasser is spreading quickly on computers worldwide. Three versions struck over the weekend, more mutations are expected this week. That worm affects computers logged on to the Internet with Microsoft Windows operating system. You can download a patch from Microsoft to fix it.

Well, straight ahead, answering the call of duty, Pat Tillman isn't the first athlete to give up the playing field for the battlefield. Just ahead, we'll look at some of the other pros who hung up their cleats and went to war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be careful next time, OK? Sorry about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's the ticket. Why your parking problems are becoming a cash cow for city hall.

And price check in produce, is your grocery store going the way of the Fotomat and the drive-in movie theater?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Pat Tillman will forever be remembered as an American hero. The memorial for the former NFL player turned soldier is today in San Jose, California. Tillman gave up an almost $4 million contract to become an Army Ranger and serve in Afghanistan. He was killed last month and posthumously awarded a silver star for leading his team to rescue comrades caught in an ambush. But Tillman is not the first athlete to become a hero on the battlefield. Author Gary Bloomfield wrote the book "Duty, Honor, Victory," it's a history of athletes in World War II.

Gary, great to see you.

GARY BLOOMFIELD, AUTHOR, "DUTY, HONOR, VICTORY": Thank you much.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about just this bygone area -- or era, rather, where athletes gave up contracts and they gave up money to serve. Why is it a bygone era?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, I think World War II was the last major conflict where it pretty much united the country. We had a lot of immigrants from Europe who were following the incidents going on over there since 1933, when Hitler came to power. And also we had a lot from the Far East when Japan came to power also in '33. So there was a lot of concern before the United States officially declared war on December 8, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. So why World War II? Why this time? Why was it more common to see more men give up these opportunities? Is it a war that just hit home maybe stronger than other wars?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, it wasn't just the men. The entire country rallied behind both conflicts in Europe and the Pacific. Children were encouraged to collect tin and rubber and chewing gum and so forth. Women were encouraged to work in defense plants. So it wasn't just the men who went off to fight. A lot of women put themselves in peril. They became pilots, test pilots. They ferried a lot of the planes from the manufacturing plants here in the States to the East Coast. So it wasn't just the men.

PHILLIPS: Of course. And I should point out -- you should know, of all people, I'm going to talk about the men and the women. I guess I should have said men who gave up athletic opportunities to do this. Well, you talk about a lot of wars in your book. You talk a lot about World War II, but you also are an expert about a lot of these heroes that participated in other wars. We picked out a couple of names here, people that you know a lot about. Ted Williams, why do you think -- I mean, this was an amazing baseball player, why do you think that he wanted to be a Marine pilot?

BLOOMFIELD: Ted Williams was a fantastic ball player. He could have sat out the war. He had a deferment because he was sole support for his mom. But he decided to join. He scored very high on the gunnery firing and became a gunnery instructor. And then he actually served during the Korean War. His mate in flight was John Glenn. He almost crashed his plane and was killed when he came in on a fiery crash landing.

PHILLIPS: Amazing. The baseball gods knew they wanted him. All right, Joe Dimaggio, let's talk about him.

BLOOMFIELD: Joe Dimaggio, he actually served in Hawaii, he served in the Army. He played a lot of exhibition baseball, which was important. A lot of troops went through Hawaii. And there were quite a few athletes who served in recreation capacities either on behalf of raising money for war bonds or putting on exhibitions, and certainly Joe Dimaggio was one of those.

PHILLIPS: And let's not forget Warren Spahn.

BLOOMFIELD: Warren Spahn, he was almost killed at the bridge at Remagen (ph). Very luckily a lot of his troops were going across the bridge and just as he got across, the bridge collapsed. It had been detonated previously by the Nazis who were hoping to blow up the bridge. But we were able to get a lot of our units across. And like I say, we almost lost him. He was one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball history.

PHILLIPS: Well, speaking about pitchers, Bob Feller. I thought it was sort of ironic that they called him "Bullet Bob" because not only was he such a great pitcher but he was an anti-aircraft gunner and did amazingly well on the USS Alabama. BLOOMFIELD: Yes, he served in both conflicts, both Europe and Pacific. He volunteered immediately after Pearl Harbor. He is one of those who actually stayed in condition on the ship, would do, you know, pull-ups on the overhead pipes, would run on the deck, actually conducted classes and so forth. So he was really quite an amazing fellow. He was offered the chance to play recreation ball in the service and he turned it down and said, no, he wanted to go fight. So I respect him very highly.

PHILLIPS: Well, here's someone else. Bobby Jones, what an amazing golfer, he gave up going pro. He wanted to stay an amateur, because he didn't want to get caught up in all the money. And here he was, another patriotic athlete that served in the military.

BLOOMFIELD: Yes, he served in the Army Air Corps in Europe and went into combat. He actually rose through the ranks to become a commander. So he's quite amazing also.

PHILLIPS: Gary, Vietnam definitely signaled change. As we remember, Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali, came forward and didn't want to be a part of the draft. He went all the way to the Supreme Court, he won. Was this where everything changed?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, Vietnam was more of a regional conflict. Even Korea before that was a regional conflict. I have a unique perspective in that I was drafted for Vietnam. I ended up serving in Korea instead. But I was one of the last to be drafted in 1972. So I certainly understand -- I don't have any animosity or harbor any toward Muhammad Ali. He was one of the greatest athletes. That was his conviction not to serve. And I don't hold any grudge against him for that.

PHILLIPS: So we look at the Pat Tillmans, we look at what he did. Is this just a rare breed or do you think that maybe Pat Tillman's spirit, what he did, what he gave up to serve will sort of trigger maybe a domino effect now?

BLOOMFIELD: You would hope so. I do think he was a rare person. He gave up the multimillion dollar contract, enlisted with his brother and did quite well. But that's what he chose to do. I know a lot of people thought he was foolish to do what he did. But, you know, obviously patriotism runs strong in that family. And I commend him for what he did. It is just sad that it took the death of a prominent individual such as himself to bring publicity to the fight in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

PHILLIPS: Gary, you bring up a good point, he definitely puts a face to all the men and women that have lost their lives during these wars that have taken place: "Operation Enduring Freedom," also "Operation Iraqi Freedom." My final question for you, Gary, as you put together this book and as you have studied these legends that gave up so much to serve, how do you feel about where we are today?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, all of the people in the book, the World War II athletes, those are my father's heroes. He grew up and he talked about those guys. We have our own heroes today. I'm not a proponent of this war, as a lot of people aren't either, but what we fail to realize is we can hate the war, but don't hate these warriors. These young men and women are doing a terrific job. We may not like the fact that we're over there, but these are all fathers and sons, mothers and sisters and, you know, they need our support at the local level.

PHILLIPS: Gary Bloomfield, author of "Duty, Honor & Victory," what a wonderful interview. Gary, thank you so much.

BLOOMFIELD: Sure. Thank you much.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, one of the athletes turned war heroes, Major League pitcher Bob Feller, well, we'll get his perspective on giving it up for your country a little later. He joins me live.

And speaking of giving it up, give it up for these lovelies, a refreshing plus-sized beauty contest as we go around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In the Middle East, a change in plans, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon now says he'll have to modify his defeated disengagement plan. Sharon's Likud Party yesterday voted against the plan that would remove settlers from Gaza and parts of the west bank. That vote was marred by violence when a pregnant settler and her children were killed.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eliza Hatwell (ph) grieves for her pregnant daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The son has lost his wife and all four of his children. In their garden, a sign that was made by those children still stands. It reads "Gush Katif is our home."

The five family members were killed Sunday by two Palestinian gunmen. Tali Hatwell (ph) and her daughters were killed in their car on the way from their settlement to Israel to campaign against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. Hours later, one by one, they were laid to rest.

EZRA HAIDU, KATIF SETTLER: Four kids, a two-years-old baby, you know? That the terrorists, to kill the kids and to go and shoot every girl in her head, it's like -- it's incredible.

HANCOCKS: Less than four hours after the funeral Sunday night, some gathered around the television at a Gush Katif town square and applauded at news that they had apparently won their political battle: the rejection of Sharon's plan to withdraw their settlements.

HAIDU: Well, this time it was wrong. I hope he will learn this message. We don't want him to resign. We never had nothing personally against him. HANCOCKS: The settlers still hope Sharon will completely reverse his disengagement plan, returning to his former role as grandfather of the settlements.

DINA ABRAMSON, NEVE DEKALIM SETTLER: Come on, Sharon, hear the government, we show you now the way, you saw now what people want, and be strong.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Even while grieving, the settlers here in Gush Katif say that they will continue campaigning to stay here. And they know that Sunday's victory was only the first step. In fact, just this morning settlers laid down a cornerstone for a new development of 21 houses to prove their determination.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, at the Gush Katif settlement block in Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Other news around the world now, in the land of the rising sun, a flag flap. The government says public school teachers may be fired if they don't honor the flag by standing up at school ceremonies. They must also sing the national anthem. The demand comes after some 180 school teachers last month were reprimanded.

In communist Cuba, celebrations and controversy for May Day. Performers entertained thousands of people in Havana over the weekend. Meanwhile Mexico has recalled its ambassador from Cuba after Fidel Castro made a speech. Castro blasted Mexico for supporting a U.N. resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record.

And big is beautiful in Thailand, contestants took to the stage over the weekend for the annual Jumbo Queen Contest. This year's winner is 28 years old and weighs 370 pounds. Young, lovely and large.

(MARKET REPORT)

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Aired May 3, 2004 - 13:57   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Damage control, more U.S. service members in trouble after photos showing alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
He gave up his NFL career and ultimately his life on the war on terror, this hour, remembering Pat Tillman.

Is your computer ready for the Sasser? Well, a new worm trying to do a number on your PC.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Philips. Miles is off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

Focus on photos, those shocking depictions from the depths of a Baghdad prison are still sending shockwaves from Baghdad to Washington and beyond. President Bush ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to throw the book at any U.S. forces found to have tortured, tormented or humiliated Iraqi prisoners of war.

Alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib was disgusting -- disgusted, rather, U.S. and Iraqi officials, not to mention the ordinary Iraqis whose hearts and minds the coalition so hopes to win. So far the Pentagon has reprimanded a half dozen soldiers and hauled up a half dozen others on criminal charges.

The commander of U.S. military police in Iraq, herself officially admonished, says military intelligence agencies -- or military intelligence agents, rather: carrying out prisoner interrogations deserve much of the blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. JANIS KARPINSKI, U.S. ARMY RESERVES: One of the most despicable aspects of those pictures, those faces on those soldiers, those soldiers who belong to one of my MP companies, absolutely; I don't know how they do this, I don't know how they allow they allowed these activities to get so out of control, but I do know with almost absolute confidence that didn't wake up one day and decide to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: You can see the rest of Karpinski's interview with CNN on "AMERICAN MORNING," 7 a.m. Eastern, 4 Pacific tomorrow.

Captivity led to opportunity for a U.S. civilian truck driver taken hostage in Iraq almost a month ago, and finally to freedom. Today Thomas Hamill, the most famous former dairy farmer from Macon, Mississippi, is being greeted, treated and debriefed at the U.S. Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

CNN's Chris Burns is there.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, that's going -- under way over my shoulder right now at Landstuhl Medical Center here. This is where usually a lot of U.S. troops who are injured in Iraq come though here, are being cared for on their way home. Mr. Hamill is undergoing the same thing, being looked at for a bullet wound to his right arm that he suffered in that April 9 ambush on the fuel convoy that he was driving in.

At this point, he is to be met by his wife some time perhaps as early as today. His wife Kellie, who is coming over here to take him back to Macon. And take a look at the house that he was in about just a day earlier, when he fled from that house where he was being held by his captors.

He saw his golden opportunity when he heard a U.S. patrol outside that was looking for a broken pipeline. Well, he made a break for it, broke through the door and went for that patrol. Here is some of the account from some of those soldiers who greeted him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was waving his hands and shouting, he fell a couple of times. He walked up to the truck and, you know, I don't know exactly what he said when he got here but -- when he got to my soldiers, but he was obviously very glad to see us. And once we found out -- we recognized who he was, we knew we had gotten somebody good.

He was obviously very relieved once he realized we were Americans. He was yelling: "I'm an American, I'm an American, I'm an American POW!" At a distance, it was obvious that he was unarmed, so we did not have our weapons trained on him. He had his hands in the air waving his shirt around. So he was yelling: "I'm an American!" As he got closer, we found what he was yelling. And as I said, once he got close up, we immediately recognized him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we picked him up, he was elated. He was happy to see an American patrol. His actions at that point in time were to address his wound. He took the patrol back to the house. The gentleman here represent the unit that were on the ground at that time. As soon as the house was searched and he identified it, we put him on a medical evacuation and he was lifted out of the area at that point in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNS: Doctors are expected to have some kind of a diagnosis for Mr. Hamill by tomorrow morning. We hope to have more for you by then, to perhaps give a better idea of when he'll be able to go home for his hero's welcome in Macon, Mississippi, population 2500. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: They're already planning. Chris Burns, thanks so much.

We want take you live to Ramstein air base in Germany where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is addressing U.S. troops. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: ... this must be quite a change now since you're now in politics, I mean, going from show business to politics, what a change. I tell them, no, it's actually pretty much the same, you see, because both of them deal with fiction, both of them are always behind schedule and they are always overbudget. So there's not much difference at all between the two. So I got used to it.

But I was a little depressed when I left Los Angeles because I saw the latest numbers. Our school system is terrible. Have you seen the latest statistics? Now 85 percent of all the second graders cannot even spell simple words like Schwarzenegger. Yes. It's like amazing. So we have to straighten out our education, there's no two ways about it.

(LAUGHTER)

SCWHARTZENEGGER: People ask me always, just so you know, they ask me always, do I still lift weights? Of course I lift weights. What, do I look like chopped liver or something like that? Hey, last week I still lifted 285 pounds, 285 pounds. I lifted Teddy Kennedy out of his chair.

(LAUGHTER)

SCWHARTZENEGGER: But anyway, it is wonderful to be here again and I tell you, as you know, I'm the governor now of the state of California, and I'm having a great time.

(APPLAUSE)

SCWHARTZENEGGER: I am having a great time, I tell you. And the people, of course, sent me to Sacramento to create action. And that's exactly what I'm doing, action, action, action, jobs, jobs, jobs. That's what we're doing.

But what was interesting about it was that when I was campaigning for governor, they could not understand why I would leave the movie business and get into politics and run for governor. They always ask me that, how can you leave behind $20 million, $30 million that you are getting for a movie, a salary, and then go into politics where you get paid nothing?

And I always try to explain to them that it was because our state was deteriorating, that it was my obligation to go and participate in the arena of politics and to get in and become governor. Because everything that I have gained, everything that I've gotten in my life was because of America, it was because of California. I wouldn't have any of the things that I have, the money, the career, my family, nothing, without the United States and without California. And this is why I felt obligated to give something back, because when I think about it, when I was a kid, when I was a little kid, my dream was to come to America. That's all that I dreamt about was coming to America, coming to California.

And so the question was always, how can I do it? And then luckily I stumbled onto bodybuilding.

PHILLIPS: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, addressing U.S. troops there at Ramstein air base in Germany. He had been in Jerusalem where he helped dedicate a planned Museum of Tolerance. He then went along to Jordan and now pumping up the troops there in Germany.

Well, the volatile, ever-changing situation in Najaf pierced by a new barrage of mortars and bullets today. It's the most concentrated attack to hit U.S. troops since they moved into strategic positions around the holy city.

Our Jane Arraf is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: U.S. military officials say this was the most intense attack on this U.S. Army base in Najaf since they got here about three weeks ago. It started at about 1:00 in the afternoon with a barrage of mortar fire. Over the next few hours, between 20 and 30 mortar rounds were fired, including, the commanding officer here says, mortar rounds that they have pinpointed coming from the courtyard of a mosque in nearby Kufa. They say they did not fire back.

Attack helicopters were sent in from a nearby base. They took fire from rocket-propelled grenades. They returned safely to base according to officials. There were no coalition casualties. But officials here say they killed at least seven suspected members of the banned militia loyal to radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, including four people, they say, who were firing mortars from a nearby field.

Now firing has come from almost all directions of this place, which also houses the Coalition Provisional Authority, civilian officials who are here trying to set up Iraqi control and Iraqi government again.

Now, those negotiations now seem a distant hope with these ongoing attacks by suspected members of the militia that are not expected to end as evening falls.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from a U.S. Army base in Najaf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Other news across America starts with a sentencing hearing. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, an alleged aide to Osama bin Laden, will be sentenced for a stabbing of a prison guard in 2000. The guard was permanently disabled this that attack. Salim also faces trial for the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa.

Feeding the meter, for the first time in eight years, taxicab fares are going up in New York. So if you hop in the back of a yellow cab today, expect to pay 26 percent more for that ride.

Protecting your PC, a new computer worm called Sasser is spreading quickly on computers worldwide. Three versions struck over the weekend, more mutations are expected this week. That worm affects computers logged on to the Internet with Microsoft Windows operating system. You can download a patch from Microsoft to fix it.

Well, straight ahead, answering the call of duty, Pat Tillman isn't the first athlete to give up the playing field for the battlefield. Just ahead, we'll look at some of the other pros who hung up their cleats and went to war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be careful next time, OK? Sorry about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's the ticket. Why your parking problems are becoming a cash cow for city hall.

And price check in produce, is your grocery store going the way of the Fotomat and the drive-in movie theater?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Pat Tillman will forever be remembered as an American hero. The memorial for the former NFL player turned soldier is today in San Jose, California. Tillman gave up an almost $4 million contract to become an Army Ranger and serve in Afghanistan. He was killed last month and posthumously awarded a silver star for leading his team to rescue comrades caught in an ambush. But Tillman is not the first athlete to become a hero on the battlefield. Author Gary Bloomfield wrote the book "Duty, Honor, Victory," it's a history of athletes in World War II.

Gary, great to see you.

GARY BLOOMFIELD, AUTHOR, "DUTY, HONOR, VICTORY": Thank you much.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about just this bygone area -- or era, rather, where athletes gave up contracts and they gave up money to serve. Why is it a bygone era?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, I think World War II was the last major conflict where it pretty much united the country. We had a lot of immigrants from Europe who were following the incidents going on over there since 1933, when Hitler came to power. And also we had a lot from the Far East when Japan came to power also in '33. So there was a lot of concern before the United States officially declared war on December 8, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. So why World War II? Why this time? Why was it more common to see more men give up these opportunities? Is it a war that just hit home maybe stronger than other wars?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, it wasn't just the men. The entire country rallied behind both conflicts in Europe and the Pacific. Children were encouraged to collect tin and rubber and chewing gum and so forth. Women were encouraged to work in defense plants. So it wasn't just the men who went off to fight. A lot of women put themselves in peril. They became pilots, test pilots. They ferried a lot of the planes from the manufacturing plants here in the States to the East Coast. So it wasn't just the men.

PHILLIPS: Of course. And I should point out -- you should know, of all people, I'm going to talk about the men and the women. I guess I should have said men who gave up athletic opportunities to do this. Well, you talk about a lot of wars in your book. You talk a lot about World War II, but you also are an expert about a lot of these heroes that participated in other wars. We picked out a couple of names here, people that you know a lot about. Ted Williams, why do you think -- I mean, this was an amazing baseball player, why do you think that he wanted to be a Marine pilot?

BLOOMFIELD: Ted Williams was a fantastic ball player. He could have sat out the war. He had a deferment because he was sole support for his mom. But he decided to join. He scored very high on the gunnery firing and became a gunnery instructor. And then he actually served during the Korean War. His mate in flight was John Glenn. He almost crashed his plane and was killed when he came in on a fiery crash landing.

PHILLIPS: Amazing. The baseball gods knew they wanted him. All right, Joe Dimaggio, let's talk about him.

BLOOMFIELD: Joe Dimaggio, he actually served in Hawaii, he served in the Army. He played a lot of exhibition baseball, which was important. A lot of troops went through Hawaii. And there were quite a few athletes who served in recreation capacities either on behalf of raising money for war bonds or putting on exhibitions, and certainly Joe Dimaggio was one of those.

PHILLIPS: And let's not forget Warren Spahn.

BLOOMFIELD: Warren Spahn, he was almost killed at the bridge at Remagen (ph). Very luckily a lot of his troops were going across the bridge and just as he got across, the bridge collapsed. It had been detonated previously by the Nazis who were hoping to blow up the bridge. But we were able to get a lot of our units across. And like I say, we almost lost him. He was one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball history.

PHILLIPS: Well, speaking about pitchers, Bob Feller. I thought it was sort of ironic that they called him "Bullet Bob" because not only was he such a great pitcher but he was an anti-aircraft gunner and did amazingly well on the USS Alabama. BLOOMFIELD: Yes, he served in both conflicts, both Europe and Pacific. He volunteered immediately after Pearl Harbor. He is one of those who actually stayed in condition on the ship, would do, you know, pull-ups on the overhead pipes, would run on the deck, actually conducted classes and so forth. So he was really quite an amazing fellow. He was offered the chance to play recreation ball in the service and he turned it down and said, no, he wanted to go fight. So I respect him very highly.

PHILLIPS: Well, here's someone else. Bobby Jones, what an amazing golfer, he gave up going pro. He wanted to stay an amateur, because he didn't want to get caught up in all the money. And here he was, another patriotic athlete that served in the military.

BLOOMFIELD: Yes, he served in the Army Air Corps in Europe and went into combat. He actually rose through the ranks to become a commander. So he's quite amazing also.

PHILLIPS: Gary, Vietnam definitely signaled change. As we remember, Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali, came forward and didn't want to be a part of the draft. He went all the way to the Supreme Court, he won. Was this where everything changed?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, Vietnam was more of a regional conflict. Even Korea before that was a regional conflict. I have a unique perspective in that I was drafted for Vietnam. I ended up serving in Korea instead. But I was one of the last to be drafted in 1972. So I certainly understand -- I don't have any animosity or harbor any toward Muhammad Ali. He was one of the greatest athletes. That was his conviction not to serve. And I don't hold any grudge against him for that.

PHILLIPS: So we look at the Pat Tillmans, we look at what he did. Is this just a rare breed or do you think that maybe Pat Tillman's spirit, what he did, what he gave up to serve will sort of trigger maybe a domino effect now?

BLOOMFIELD: You would hope so. I do think he was a rare person. He gave up the multimillion dollar contract, enlisted with his brother and did quite well. But that's what he chose to do. I know a lot of people thought he was foolish to do what he did. But, you know, obviously patriotism runs strong in that family. And I commend him for what he did. It is just sad that it took the death of a prominent individual such as himself to bring publicity to the fight in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

PHILLIPS: Gary, you bring up a good point, he definitely puts a face to all the men and women that have lost their lives during these wars that have taken place: "Operation Enduring Freedom," also "Operation Iraqi Freedom." My final question for you, Gary, as you put together this book and as you have studied these legends that gave up so much to serve, how do you feel about where we are today?

BLOOMFIELD: Well, all of the people in the book, the World War II athletes, those are my father's heroes. He grew up and he talked about those guys. We have our own heroes today. I'm not a proponent of this war, as a lot of people aren't either, but what we fail to realize is we can hate the war, but don't hate these warriors. These young men and women are doing a terrific job. We may not like the fact that we're over there, but these are all fathers and sons, mothers and sisters and, you know, they need our support at the local level.

PHILLIPS: Gary Bloomfield, author of "Duty, Honor & Victory," what a wonderful interview. Gary, thank you so much.

BLOOMFIELD: Sure. Thank you much.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, one of the athletes turned war heroes, Major League pitcher Bob Feller, well, we'll get his perspective on giving it up for your country a little later. He joins me live.

And speaking of giving it up, give it up for these lovelies, a refreshing plus-sized beauty contest as we go around the world.

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PHILLIPS: In the Middle East, a change in plans, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon now says he'll have to modify his defeated disengagement plan. Sharon's Likud Party yesterday voted against the plan that would remove settlers from Gaza and parts of the west bank. That vote was marred by violence when a pregnant settler and her children were killed.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has reaction.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eliza Hatwell (ph) grieves for her pregnant daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The son has lost his wife and all four of his children. In their garden, a sign that was made by those children still stands. It reads "Gush Katif is our home."

The five family members were killed Sunday by two Palestinian gunmen. Tali Hatwell (ph) and her daughters were killed in their car on the way from their settlement to Israel to campaign against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. Hours later, one by one, they were laid to rest.

EZRA HAIDU, KATIF SETTLER: Four kids, a two-years-old baby, you know? That the terrorists, to kill the kids and to go and shoot every girl in her head, it's like -- it's incredible.

HANCOCKS: Less than four hours after the funeral Sunday night, some gathered around the television at a Gush Katif town square and applauded at news that they had apparently won their political battle: the rejection of Sharon's plan to withdraw their settlements.

HAIDU: Well, this time it was wrong. I hope he will learn this message. We don't want him to resign. We never had nothing personally against him. HANCOCKS: The settlers still hope Sharon will completely reverse his disengagement plan, returning to his former role as grandfather of the settlements.

DINA ABRAMSON, NEVE DEKALIM SETTLER: Come on, Sharon, hear the government, we show you now the way, you saw now what people want, and be strong.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Even while grieving, the settlers here in Gush Katif say that they will continue campaigning to stay here. And they know that Sunday's victory was only the first step. In fact, just this morning settlers laid down a cornerstone for a new development of 21 houses to prove their determination.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, at the Gush Katif settlement block in Gaza.

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PHILLIPS: Other news around the world now, in the land of the rising sun, a flag flap. The government says public school teachers may be fired if they don't honor the flag by standing up at school ceremonies. They must also sing the national anthem. The demand comes after some 180 school teachers last month were reprimanded.

In communist Cuba, celebrations and controversy for May Day. Performers entertained thousands of people in Havana over the weekend. Meanwhile Mexico has recalled its ambassador from Cuba after Fidel Castro made a speech. Castro blasted Mexico for supporting a U.N. resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record.

And big is beautiful in Thailand, contestants took to the stage over the weekend for the annual Jumbo Queen Contest. This year's winner is 28 years old and weighs 370 pounds. Young, lovely and large.

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