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Roadside Bomb Kills Three U.S. Marines in Baghdad
Aired June 29, 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Judging Saddam Hussein, Iraqis ready to take him and his alleged henchmen to court.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family of Matt -- of Specialist -- Army Specialist Matt Maupin waits, hoping that a report that the soldier was executed is not true. I'm Keith Oppenheim in Union Township, Ohio. I'll have that story coming up.
PHILLIPS: Online porn and laws protecting children trampling on adults' right to free speech. The Supreme Court weighs in.
Zapping fat. A new device to drop the pounds. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in the house.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is on assignment. CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.
No one expected the bloodshed to stop when sovereignty started, and it hasn't. Yet another roadside bomb killed three U.S. Marines in Baghdad today, while Iraqi police came under fire in Baghdad and three other cities.
On the hostage front, there is relief for some, dread for others.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has more on all of this from the Pentagon -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, a Marine convoy was headed through east Baghdad today when a roadside bomb exploded. It hit the lead vehicle in that convoy. There you see it. Two Marines were wounded and three were killed. Their deaths, sadly, marked the very first U.S. fatalities since the turnover of power in Iraq.
Some positive news in the ongoing hostage cases in Iraq, three Turks kidnapped this weekend and threatened with death have been freed by their captors. They're now on their way back home to Turkey.
It's just such an outcome that the family of Marine translator, Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is hoping for. They say he is the blindfolded captive in a videotape released Sunday. They want international help to gain his release.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMI HASSOUN, BROTHER OF MISSING MARINE: I would like to call on all the ambassadors in the whole countries around the world, and especially around Iraq, please help us. Please help us in our case, with our brother. He's with the Marines. He was doing his job. We never hurt nobody in our whole life. He's a very innocent person. He was just doing his job, like everybody else in his place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Meanwhile, the U.S. military is still studying a grainy videotape aired on Al Jazeera, the Arab language network. Al Jazeera says militants, in a statement delivered with the tape, claim that they have killed Army Specialist Matt Maupin, seen here. He's been missing in Iraq since April. And Pentagon officials do confirm that they've seen this tape. It does show someone being shot, but they cannot say with certainty that it is Maupin. And they also point out his body has not been found.
Also, still no word on a Pakistani driver for a U.S. firm in Iraq who was kidnapped there this weekend. His captors say that they will behead him unless all Pakistanis leave Iraq.
And sadly, the expectation is, Kyra, that such kidnappings will continue despite the turnover of sovereignty in Iraq.
PHILLIPS: Kathleen Koch live from the Pentagon.
Well it's far from conclusive but one second of dark video has Union Township, Ohio, fearing the worst. That's Matt Maupin country. And folks there have prayed for his safe return since he was kidnapped near Baghdad April 9, Good Friday.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is with them right now -- Keith.
OPPENHEIM: That's right, it's been 81 days, Kyra, since Matt Maupin was taken hostage. And it's been a very difficult waiting game for the Maupin family all along. They live on this street here in Union Township.
But the last day, in particular, has been particularly rough for this family. It's because yesterday is when they first learned about the videotape that Kathleen Koch was referring to, a tape that was aired on the Al Jazeera network, and a tape that shows the execution of a man shot from behind. Al Jazeera reporting that militants are claiming responsibility for that killing and saying that Specialist Matt Maupin was killed on the tape.
The Army is saying hold on. Yesterday they made clear that there's no confirmation as to whether or not it's an American soldier, much less Matt Maupin on the tape. So there is a lot of uncertainty at this time.
Amidst all this uncertainty, there are a lot of tributes to Matt Maupin throughout the area. There are various things, such as yellow ribbons and signs, particularly at Matt Maupin's old high school, Glen Este High School.
And there's also some skepticism in the area. One young man we spoke to expressed his doubts about the authenticity of the tape. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think anybody's believing that because that video that they showed last night, it just showed the guy -- some guy with his back towards the camera. Nobody can prove that's him.
OPPENHEIM: So it makes you very skeptical that that's actually Matt Maupin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it is, because in my heart, I know for -- in my heart that I'm feeling that he's still alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: And in general, when you talk to people around here, there's a lot of anxiety about the developments of this story, Kyra. They very much want to believe that Matt Maupin is still alive, but the report from Al Jazeera has made people very concerned that he may not be. And I think they very much want to get some confirmation very soon that he is doing OK and that there's a possibility that he could return home safely at some point.
Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Keith Oppenheim, thank you.
Well Iraq's dirty dozen, make that allegedly dirty 12 former top officials of the old regime, Saddam Hussein included, will face war crime trials under the new regime late this year or maybe next. Barely one day into the resumption of Iraqi self-rule, the new prime minister set tomorrow as the day to take legal custody of Saddam and his former lieutenants. For now, though, the group will stay under coalition lock and key.
We get the latest from CNN's Jane Arraf. She is in Baghdad -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Kyra, it's news that is overshadowing almost the fact that this is now a sovereign country. In one of his first appearances, on the first day, in fact, of Iraqi sovereignty, prime minister Iyad Allawi revealed that Iraqis would get their first glimpse of ex-president Saddam Hussein since he was captured in December.
Now this is going to be Saddam Hussein, according to one official, handcuffed, as he is paraded to the glare of television cameras to be transferred to Iraqi legal custody. He will then be handed back to physical custody of U.S. forces. The Iraqis now can't keep him safe.
But a day later, he's going to answer to charges against him. Those charges, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Eleven others of his associates will also appear on charges, but the prime minister for the interim government says Saddam will be given a fair trial. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: Saddam will be entitled to have representation. He's entitled to appoint lawyers. And maybe if he doesn't have money to appoint lawyers, the government will pay the money. So he's represented well. We assure you that this will be a just trial and a fair trial, unlike the trials that he inflicted on his enemies, on the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: And to further emphasize that things have changed, Kyra, the new American ambassador, no longer an occupying power, no longer a Coalition Provisional Authority, but simply an American Embassy with an American ambassador. This one, John Negroponte, presented his credentials to the Iraqi president of the interim government, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar. Two other countries also credentialed, Australia and Denmark, but Negroponte says that the U.S. was committed and would continue to work with Iraq for a bright future -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jane, just for a moment, back to Saddam Hussein, can you give us any type of inside glimpse into the security detail? You know back here in the States, there's a lot of talk about assassination attempts during a transfer, possible abduction by Saddam loyalists. This has got to be a concern, if indeed he's going to be transferred from one party to another.
ARRAF: Well, he's going to be transferred in a legal sense. There's no indication at all that he's going to take a very long walk out of where he is now. Those details are still unclear. Obviously, they are shrouded in the utmost secrecy for security reasons. That would be an absolute nightmare if anything happened just at the moment that Saddam Hussein were being displayed, to spring him out of custody.
So essentially what happens is he is being given over to legal authority of the Iraqi government, but he remains in physical custody of U.S. forces. The big deal, though, for most Iraqis, will be what does he look like? And they're going to get that glimpse, they hope, tomorrow -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: CNN's Jane Arraf, live from Baghdad, thank you.
EU and Ireland, NATO and Turkey, D.C. by dinner. President Bush is just about half way home from his outreach mission to U.S. allies abroad, a mission partly overshadowed by the surprise handover of Iraqi sovereignty two days earlier than planned. On his last day in Istanbul, Mr. Bush gave a seaside speech in which he held up Turkey as a role model for Iraq's new leaders. He also repeated his argument for Turkish membership in the European Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For decades, my country has supported greater unity in Europe to secure liberty, to build prosperity and to remove sources of conflict on this continent. Now the European Union is considering the admission of Turkey and you're moving rapidly to meet the criteria for membership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Talk like that rankles the French who say EU membership is none of Washington's concern. But it illustrates the blurring of borders and missions that some think constitutes a clear and present danger to the Cold War era military alliance.
Here's CNN's Robin Oakley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was some new boys and girls in the class photo. This was the first NATO Summit with the alliance expanded to 26 members. And after their agreements to train forces for the new Iraqi government and boost their forces in Afghanistan, the secretary-general accentuated the positive.
JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: An alliance that started out 55 years ago with 12 member nations now has grown to more than twice that number, illustrating the enduring value of the transatlantic link. Twenty-six nations are now determined to defend our values and to pass them on to future generations.
OAKLEY: But will NATO still be around to hand on those values in years to come or will the U.S. end of the transatlantic link be using more coalitions of the willing instead? The key test, some summit participants acknowledged, is NATO's first out-of-area role, peacekeeping in Afghanistan. So far, its achievements there haven't matched its promises. The secretary-general has had to pass the begging bowl for helicopters and medical supplies.
Afghanistan's president arrived in Istanbul to urge the leaders to do better.
HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANI INTERIM PRESIDENT: Elections are coming in September and we need security forces today in Afghanistan to provide a secure environment for elections for the Afghan people and beyond. Our request today is to please fulfill the commitment that you have made yesterday for Afghanistan, before elections, so that we, in Afghanistan, can provide our people with an environment in which they can go and vote freely and fairly.
OAKLEY: Some doubt the 3,500 troop boost NATO has agreed will be enough, but there are optimists, too.
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Afghanistan is the first and the biggest challenge for NATO. But I believe that we will see that, as an organization and as an alliance, it's going to meet that challenge.
OAKLEY (on camera): The NATO Summit did agree to help the new Iraqi government with equipment and training, though not yet how or when. But all the old prewar tensions still showed. And diplomats agree that unless the alliance can prove itself in Afghanistan by providing sufficient security for the September elections to take place, than all the old questions about whether NATO is needed in the post Cold War world will be revived.
Robin Oakley, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And find out how the handover is affecting U.S. troops today, 3:00 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. We're going to replay Paula Zahn's special live show from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina.
Security guards or security threats? Two guards posted at the Iranian Missions the United Nations have been sent packing after refusing to stop taking pictures of New York subways, buses and tunnels. The U.S. officials tell CNN the men were stopped and warned three times in two years. Iran confirms the guards have gone home but denies they did anything improper.
Protecting children from online porn, is a federal law overprotective? The Supreme Court says maybe. A live report on that straight ahead.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Redwood City where the prosecutors in the Peterson case are busy recouping their recent losses to the defense. More coming up.
PHILLIPS: Trustworthy traveler. A new push to get some passengers through airport security just a little quicker. We're racking up the frequent flyer miles right here on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: You are watching LIVE FROM... on CNN. The most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra Phillips and the rest of the CNN LIVE FROM... gang will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well in Redwood City, California, the judge in the Scott Peterson trial is talking tough about too much talk outside his courtroom.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is on the case -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well news this morning, Kyra, is that the grueling cross examination of Detective Al Brocchini, which has often been controversial, is finally over. Prosecutors came out of the chute really with their guns really flaring today and trying to recoup some of the setbacks that they suffered last week in this case.
Now, one of those things was that Detective Al Brocchini had admitted that he omitted part of a taped interview that had Laci Peterson coming to Scott Peterson's warehouse and that she may have seen the boat. Something prosecutors say they don't believe she did.
Well apparently that piece of the interview was included in another detective's report, the actual detective that interviewed the woman. Prosecutors also established that the defense knew that all along and was simply spinning events.
They also brought up Amber Frey and her original tip to police, talking about that she claimed that Scott had lied to her about being married, that he claimed his wife was dead. And that on Christmas Day he called her and said he was going to Paris.
Then in another piece of information about a tip, they said that a man by the name of Mike Spida (ph) had called police claiming that Scott Peterson told him a story in 1995 that he knew -- had figured out how to get rid of a dead body. He told him that what you would do is tie anchors around the neck and hands and feet of the body and throw it in the sea.
That is, of course, what prosecutors are saying that Scott Peterson did in this case. So it looks like prosecutors are regaining some ground, perhaps not as dramatically as defense attorney Mark Geragos took it away, but they seem to be regaining ground, possibly with the jury -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Rusty Dornin, live from Redwood City, thank you.
The highest court in the land called it a term today with a modest ruling on Internet porn.
CNN's Bob Franken now draws us a picture -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think I'll pass on that one.
PHILLIPS: I tried to keep a straight face, I'm sorry.
FRANKEN: You didn't make it. But in any case, it was a modest ruling. It's not a term you usually hear when you're discussing Internet porn. But what the justices have ruled is that because of improved technologies, the lower courts, once again, have to decide whether filters -- some sort of filter that would block Internet pornography from young people would be a preferable way to go than the more draconian of the measures that are involved in the current Child Online Protection Act.
Now, three times COPA, as it's called, has gotten to the court, three times it has been knocked down. This time knocked down to the lower courts, again, to see if something can be done because of the concerns about broad, broad inhibitions on free speech.
Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, said "content- based prohibitions, enforced by severe penalties, have the constant potential to be a repressive force in the lives and thoughts of a free people."
Now there was dissent, as there usually is in a Supreme Court case, and the dissent in this particular case was led by one of the more liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, who said "the act is properly interpreted, risks imposition of minor burdens on some protected material -- burdens that adults wishing to view the material may overcome at a modest cost. At the same time it significantly helps to achieve a compelling congressional goal, protecting children from exposure to commercial pornography."
The difficulty is, of course, that when filters are created, there's always somebody who is also creative and finds a way around the filter. But the justices are saying because of their concerns for free speech, the courts have to see if they can reconcile that difference. And until they do, a law that has been on the books repeatedly since 1998, during the Clinton administration, is not on the books yet.
PHILLIPS: Bob Franken live from Washington. Thanks, Bob.
Other news 'Across America' now.
A lot of eyeballs will be on tonight's multistate mega millions drawing. The jackpot is up around $220 million thanks to strong ticket sales. Friday's drawing didn't net a jackpot winner, though. The drawing is tonight at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
In Madison, Wisconsin, if a rental car agency ever asks if you want the extra insurance, say yes, because you never know if you might have a snake riding shotgun. It happened Sunday to a man who was driving along in a rental, minding his own business, when this python slithered up into his lap. Well the man says he doesn't know how he avoided crashing the car. The snake, which was quite tame, was retrieved by Animal Control and is awaiting adoption at a local humane society.
One more creature feature, blood-sucking leeches come to America. The FDA has approved a French company's bid to import leeches for medicinal purposes, which include skin grafting and helping to restore circulation.
Well you ever wish you could shock your system into losing weight? Researchers are testing a device that does just that.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how it works.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You've seen the ads promising dramatic weight-loss. No surprise, though, that most of those fancy gadgets don't work. But Candy Bradshaw says she's lost her cynicism and several dress sizes by shocking her appetite. She dropped from a size 28 to a size 14, something she attributes to controlling her appetite with the weight- loss pacemaker.
CANDY BRADSHAW, IGS WEIGHT LOSS SYSTEM PARTICIPANT: I actually stay full for a longer period of time. GUPTA: It's called the implantable gastric stimulator or IGS. It doesn't actually change the size of your stomach the way invasive procedures like gastric bypass do and it doesn't stop you from eating but...
DR. SCOTT SHIKORA, CHIEF OF BARIATRIC SURGERY, TUFTS NEW ENGLAND MEDICAL CENTER: It's telling your brain that you've eaten more than you have and you're full.
GUPTA: A device the size of a pager is implanted into the abdomen through a small incision. Two wires send electrical pulses to the stomach at a regular pace. These pulses stimulate appetite hormones and create a feeling of fullness.
BRADSHAW: I'd like to refer to it as my Thanksgiving full feeling, that feeling that you get when you just have completely stuffed yourself and can't move.
GUPTA: Candy lost more than 100 pounds. But doctors caution that shocking the appetite isn't for everyone.
SHIKORA: Somebody who probably would not do well with this would be someone with a history of binge eating or other eating disorders because those folks generally don't listen to the signals of fullness.
GUPTA: IGS is currently in stage three clinical trials and could be on the market as early as 2006 as a mechanism to treat the morbidly obese. So far, no side effects have been reported. And Candy recognizes that the IGS was just one part of her weight-loss.
BRADSHAW: It's not going to motivate you to exercise, and it's not going to prevent you from eating the wrong foods. So, I think of this as my conscience. It's just a tool to tell me, OK, you've had enough.
GUPTA: Or just a little help with your willpower.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Since 9/11, frequent flyers have often been frustrated by the extra time that it takes to get through airport security trip after trip. Now the federal government believes it has a better idea.
Chris Lawrence has the story of an airport pilot program about to take off in the Twin Cities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Between the hand checks and bag searches, frequent fliers never know how long they'll wait in security lines.
CHARLIE ZELLE, FREQUENT FLIER: Tuesday it took five minutes and Wednesday it took 90 minutes.
LAWRENCE: That could be the reason hundreds accepted an invitation to apply for the new Registered Traveler program, now being tested by the TSA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What it's going to do is it's going to take three scans of each index finger.
LAWRENCE: Like Lori Stopperan, they fly about once a week and don't mind giving fingerprints and optical scans to avoid tighter screening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to take one more verification.
LAWRENCE: They'll still have to pass through metal detectors, but in a special lane at one of the checkpoints.
GARY FISHMAN, NORTHWEST AIRLINES: Why do you have to put them through the same level of scrutiny at the -- at the airport, as someone you know nothing about?
LAWRENCE: They won't be pulled out of line for flying one way, or random screening. And that's just the beginning.
JIM WELLNA, DEPUTY DIR., TSA: Eventually we hope to be able to add some things, like not perhaps having to take your laptop out of your bag. Not having to take your shoes off, having to take your overcoat off. We're going to build and learn.
LAWRENCE: If it works, the program could go national. But its potential is the problem for some privacy advocates.
JAY STANLEY, ACLU: Whenever you put the government into the role of judging American citizens, and making judgments about who's trusted and who's not, that raises serious questions, because that's really an unprecedented thing for the government to do.
LAWRENCE: But one that some frequent fliers are comfortable with.
LORI STOPPERAN, FREQUENT FLIER: Especially on heavy travel days, like the weekends, it'll be way worth it.
LAWRENCE: The TSA's Trusted Travelers begin flying next week in Minnesota. And over the next few weeks: Boston, Houston, Washington and L.A.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Bloomington, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Wall Street watching and waiting as the Federal Reserve meets to discuss interest rates.
Rhonda Schaffler live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Rhonda.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
SCHAFFLER: Still to come, Starbucks is joining the battle of the bulge and a popular frozen drink is going on a diet. I'll have that story later this hour as CNN's LIVE FROM... will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired June 29, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Judging Saddam Hussein, Iraqis ready to take him and his alleged henchmen to court.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family of Matt -- of Specialist -- Army Specialist Matt Maupin waits, hoping that a report that the soldier was executed is not true. I'm Keith Oppenheim in Union Township, Ohio. I'll have that story coming up.
PHILLIPS: Online porn and laws protecting children trampling on adults' right to free speech. The Supreme Court weighs in.
Zapping fat. A new device to drop the pounds. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in the house.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is on assignment. CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.
No one expected the bloodshed to stop when sovereignty started, and it hasn't. Yet another roadside bomb killed three U.S. Marines in Baghdad today, while Iraqi police came under fire in Baghdad and three other cities.
On the hostage front, there is relief for some, dread for others.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has more on all of this from the Pentagon -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, a Marine convoy was headed through east Baghdad today when a roadside bomb exploded. It hit the lead vehicle in that convoy. There you see it. Two Marines were wounded and three were killed. Their deaths, sadly, marked the very first U.S. fatalities since the turnover of power in Iraq.
Some positive news in the ongoing hostage cases in Iraq, three Turks kidnapped this weekend and threatened with death have been freed by their captors. They're now on their way back home to Turkey.
It's just such an outcome that the family of Marine translator, Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is hoping for. They say he is the blindfolded captive in a videotape released Sunday. They want international help to gain his release.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMI HASSOUN, BROTHER OF MISSING MARINE: I would like to call on all the ambassadors in the whole countries around the world, and especially around Iraq, please help us. Please help us in our case, with our brother. He's with the Marines. He was doing his job. We never hurt nobody in our whole life. He's a very innocent person. He was just doing his job, like everybody else in his place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Meanwhile, the U.S. military is still studying a grainy videotape aired on Al Jazeera, the Arab language network. Al Jazeera says militants, in a statement delivered with the tape, claim that they have killed Army Specialist Matt Maupin, seen here. He's been missing in Iraq since April. And Pentagon officials do confirm that they've seen this tape. It does show someone being shot, but they cannot say with certainty that it is Maupin. And they also point out his body has not been found.
Also, still no word on a Pakistani driver for a U.S. firm in Iraq who was kidnapped there this weekend. His captors say that they will behead him unless all Pakistanis leave Iraq.
And sadly, the expectation is, Kyra, that such kidnappings will continue despite the turnover of sovereignty in Iraq.
PHILLIPS: Kathleen Koch live from the Pentagon.
Well it's far from conclusive but one second of dark video has Union Township, Ohio, fearing the worst. That's Matt Maupin country. And folks there have prayed for his safe return since he was kidnapped near Baghdad April 9, Good Friday.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is with them right now -- Keith.
OPPENHEIM: That's right, it's been 81 days, Kyra, since Matt Maupin was taken hostage. And it's been a very difficult waiting game for the Maupin family all along. They live on this street here in Union Township.
But the last day, in particular, has been particularly rough for this family. It's because yesterday is when they first learned about the videotape that Kathleen Koch was referring to, a tape that was aired on the Al Jazeera network, and a tape that shows the execution of a man shot from behind. Al Jazeera reporting that militants are claiming responsibility for that killing and saying that Specialist Matt Maupin was killed on the tape.
The Army is saying hold on. Yesterday they made clear that there's no confirmation as to whether or not it's an American soldier, much less Matt Maupin on the tape. So there is a lot of uncertainty at this time.
Amidst all this uncertainty, there are a lot of tributes to Matt Maupin throughout the area. There are various things, such as yellow ribbons and signs, particularly at Matt Maupin's old high school, Glen Este High School.
And there's also some skepticism in the area. One young man we spoke to expressed his doubts about the authenticity of the tape. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think anybody's believing that because that video that they showed last night, it just showed the guy -- some guy with his back towards the camera. Nobody can prove that's him.
OPPENHEIM: So it makes you very skeptical that that's actually Matt Maupin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it is, because in my heart, I know for -- in my heart that I'm feeling that he's still alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: And in general, when you talk to people around here, there's a lot of anxiety about the developments of this story, Kyra. They very much want to believe that Matt Maupin is still alive, but the report from Al Jazeera has made people very concerned that he may not be. And I think they very much want to get some confirmation very soon that he is doing OK and that there's a possibility that he could return home safely at some point.
Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Keith Oppenheim, thank you.
Well Iraq's dirty dozen, make that allegedly dirty 12 former top officials of the old regime, Saddam Hussein included, will face war crime trials under the new regime late this year or maybe next. Barely one day into the resumption of Iraqi self-rule, the new prime minister set tomorrow as the day to take legal custody of Saddam and his former lieutenants. For now, though, the group will stay under coalition lock and key.
We get the latest from CNN's Jane Arraf. She is in Baghdad -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Kyra, it's news that is overshadowing almost the fact that this is now a sovereign country. In one of his first appearances, on the first day, in fact, of Iraqi sovereignty, prime minister Iyad Allawi revealed that Iraqis would get their first glimpse of ex-president Saddam Hussein since he was captured in December.
Now this is going to be Saddam Hussein, according to one official, handcuffed, as he is paraded to the glare of television cameras to be transferred to Iraqi legal custody. He will then be handed back to physical custody of U.S. forces. The Iraqis now can't keep him safe.
But a day later, he's going to answer to charges against him. Those charges, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Eleven others of his associates will also appear on charges, but the prime minister for the interim government says Saddam will be given a fair trial. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: Saddam will be entitled to have representation. He's entitled to appoint lawyers. And maybe if he doesn't have money to appoint lawyers, the government will pay the money. So he's represented well. We assure you that this will be a just trial and a fair trial, unlike the trials that he inflicted on his enemies, on the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: And to further emphasize that things have changed, Kyra, the new American ambassador, no longer an occupying power, no longer a Coalition Provisional Authority, but simply an American Embassy with an American ambassador. This one, John Negroponte, presented his credentials to the Iraqi president of the interim government, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar. Two other countries also credentialed, Australia and Denmark, but Negroponte says that the U.S. was committed and would continue to work with Iraq for a bright future -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jane, just for a moment, back to Saddam Hussein, can you give us any type of inside glimpse into the security detail? You know back here in the States, there's a lot of talk about assassination attempts during a transfer, possible abduction by Saddam loyalists. This has got to be a concern, if indeed he's going to be transferred from one party to another.
ARRAF: Well, he's going to be transferred in a legal sense. There's no indication at all that he's going to take a very long walk out of where he is now. Those details are still unclear. Obviously, they are shrouded in the utmost secrecy for security reasons. That would be an absolute nightmare if anything happened just at the moment that Saddam Hussein were being displayed, to spring him out of custody.
So essentially what happens is he is being given over to legal authority of the Iraqi government, but he remains in physical custody of U.S. forces. The big deal, though, for most Iraqis, will be what does he look like? And they're going to get that glimpse, they hope, tomorrow -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: CNN's Jane Arraf, live from Baghdad, thank you.
EU and Ireland, NATO and Turkey, D.C. by dinner. President Bush is just about half way home from his outreach mission to U.S. allies abroad, a mission partly overshadowed by the surprise handover of Iraqi sovereignty two days earlier than planned. On his last day in Istanbul, Mr. Bush gave a seaside speech in which he held up Turkey as a role model for Iraq's new leaders. He also repeated his argument for Turkish membership in the European Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For decades, my country has supported greater unity in Europe to secure liberty, to build prosperity and to remove sources of conflict on this continent. Now the European Union is considering the admission of Turkey and you're moving rapidly to meet the criteria for membership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Talk like that rankles the French who say EU membership is none of Washington's concern. But it illustrates the blurring of borders and missions that some think constitutes a clear and present danger to the Cold War era military alliance.
Here's CNN's Robin Oakley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was some new boys and girls in the class photo. This was the first NATO Summit with the alliance expanded to 26 members. And after their agreements to train forces for the new Iraqi government and boost their forces in Afghanistan, the secretary-general accentuated the positive.
JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: An alliance that started out 55 years ago with 12 member nations now has grown to more than twice that number, illustrating the enduring value of the transatlantic link. Twenty-six nations are now determined to defend our values and to pass them on to future generations.
OAKLEY: But will NATO still be around to hand on those values in years to come or will the U.S. end of the transatlantic link be using more coalitions of the willing instead? The key test, some summit participants acknowledged, is NATO's first out-of-area role, peacekeeping in Afghanistan. So far, its achievements there haven't matched its promises. The secretary-general has had to pass the begging bowl for helicopters and medical supplies.
Afghanistan's president arrived in Istanbul to urge the leaders to do better.
HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANI INTERIM PRESIDENT: Elections are coming in September and we need security forces today in Afghanistan to provide a secure environment for elections for the Afghan people and beyond. Our request today is to please fulfill the commitment that you have made yesterday for Afghanistan, before elections, so that we, in Afghanistan, can provide our people with an environment in which they can go and vote freely and fairly.
OAKLEY: Some doubt the 3,500 troop boost NATO has agreed will be enough, but there are optimists, too.
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Afghanistan is the first and the biggest challenge for NATO. But I believe that we will see that, as an organization and as an alliance, it's going to meet that challenge.
OAKLEY (on camera): The NATO Summit did agree to help the new Iraqi government with equipment and training, though not yet how or when. But all the old prewar tensions still showed. And diplomats agree that unless the alliance can prove itself in Afghanistan by providing sufficient security for the September elections to take place, than all the old questions about whether NATO is needed in the post Cold War world will be revived.
Robin Oakley, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And find out how the handover is affecting U.S. troops today, 3:00 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. We're going to replay Paula Zahn's special live show from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina.
Security guards or security threats? Two guards posted at the Iranian Missions the United Nations have been sent packing after refusing to stop taking pictures of New York subways, buses and tunnels. The U.S. officials tell CNN the men were stopped and warned three times in two years. Iran confirms the guards have gone home but denies they did anything improper.
Protecting children from online porn, is a federal law overprotective? The Supreme Court says maybe. A live report on that straight ahead.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Redwood City where the prosecutors in the Peterson case are busy recouping their recent losses to the defense. More coming up.
PHILLIPS: Trustworthy traveler. A new push to get some passengers through airport security just a little quicker. We're racking up the frequent flyer miles right here on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: You are watching LIVE FROM... on CNN. The most trusted name in news.
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ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra Phillips and the rest of the CNN LIVE FROM... gang will be right back.
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PHILLIPS: Well in Redwood City, California, the judge in the Scott Peterson trial is talking tough about too much talk outside his courtroom.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is on the case -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well news this morning, Kyra, is that the grueling cross examination of Detective Al Brocchini, which has often been controversial, is finally over. Prosecutors came out of the chute really with their guns really flaring today and trying to recoup some of the setbacks that they suffered last week in this case.
Now, one of those things was that Detective Al Brocchini had admitted that he omitted part of a taped interview that had Laci Peterson coming to Scott Peterson's warehouse and that she may have seen the boat. Something prosecutors say they don't believe she did.
Well apparently that piece of the interview was included in another detective's report, the actual detective that interviewed the woman. Prosecutors also established that the defense knew that all along and was simply spinning events.
They also brought up Amber Frey and her original tip to police, talking about that she claimed that Scott had lied to her about being married, that he claimed his wife was dead. And that on Christmas Day he called her and said he was going to Paris.
Then in another piece of information about a tip, they said that a man by the name of Mike Spida (ph) had called police claiming that Scott Peterson told him a story in 1995 that he knew -- had figured out how to get rid of a dead body. He told him that what you would do is tie anchors around the neck and hands and feet of the body and throw it in the sea.
That is, of course, what prosecutors are saying that Scott Peterson did in this case. So it looks like prosecutors are regaining some ground, perhaps not as dramatically as defense attorney Mark Geragos took it away, but they seem to be regaining ground, possibly with the jury -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Rusty Dornin, live from Redwood City, thank you.
The highest court in the land called it a term today with a modest ruling on Internet porn.
CNN's Bob Franken now draws us a picture -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think I'll pass on that one.
PHILLIPS: I tried to keep a straight face, I'm sorry.
FRANKEN: You didn't make it. But in any case, it was a modest ruling. It's not a term you usually hear when you're discussing Internet porn. But what the justices have ruled is that because of improved technologies, the lower courts, once again, have to decide whether filters -- some sort of filter that would block Internet pornography from young people would be a preferable way to go than the more draconian of the measures that are involved in the current Child Online Protection Act.
Now, three times COPA, as it's called, has gotten to the court, three times it has been knocked down. This time knocked down to the lower courts, again, to see if something can be done because of the concerns about broad, broad inhibitions on free speech.
Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, said "content- based prohibitions, enforced by severe penalties, have the constant potential to be a repressive force in the lives and thoughts of a free people."
Now there was dissent, as there usually is in a Supreme Court case, and the dissent in this particular case was led by one of the more liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, who said "the act is properly interpreted, risks imposition of minor burdens on some protected material -- burdens that adults wishing to view the material may overcome at a modest cost. At the same time it significantly helps to achieve a compelling congressional goal, protecting children from exposure to commercial pornography."
The difficulty is, of course, that when filters are created, there's always somebody who is also creative and finds a way around the filter. But the justices are saying because of their concerns for free speech, the courts have to see if they can reconcile that difference. And until they do, a law that has been on the books repeatedly since 1998, during the Clinton administration, is not on the books yet.
PHILLIPS: Bob Franken live from Washington. Thanks, Bob.
Other news 'Across America' now.
A lot of eyeballs will be on tonight's multistate mega millions drawing. The jackpot is up around $220 million thanks to strong ticket sales. Friday's drawing didn't net a jackpot winner, though. The drawing is tonight at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
In Madison, Wisconsin, if a rental car agency ever asks if you want the extra insurance, say yes, because you never know if you might have a snake riding shotgun. It happened Sunday to a man who was driving along in a rental, minding his own business, when this python slithered up into his lap. Well the man says he doesn't know how he avoided crashing the car. The snake, which was quite tame, was retrieved by Animal Control and is awaiting adoption at a local humane society.
One more creature feature, blood-sucking leeches come to America. The FDA has approved a French company's bid to import leeches for medicinal purposes, which include skin grafting and helping to restore circulation.
Well you ever wish you could shock your system into losing weight? Researchers are testing a device that does just that.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how it works.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You've seen the ads promising dramatic weight-loss. No surprise, though, that most of those fancy gadgets don't work. But Candy Bradshaw says she's lost her cynicism and several dress sizes by shocking her appetite. She dropped from a size 28 to a size 14, something she attributes to controlling her appetite with the weight- loss pacemaker.
CANDY BRADSHAW, IGS WEIGHT LOSS SYSTEM PARTICIPANT: I actually stay full for a longer period of time. GUPTA: It's called the implantable gastric stimulator or IGS. It doesn't actually change the size of your stomach the way invasive procedures like gastric bypass do and it doesn't stop you from eating but...
DR. SCOTT SHIKORA, CHIEF OF BARIATRIC SURGERY, TUFTS NEW ENGLAND MEDICAL CENTER: It's telling your brain that you've eaten more than you have and you're full.
GUPTA: A device the size of a pager is implanted into the abdomen through a small incision. Two wires send electrical pulses to the stomach at a regular pace. These pulses stimulate appetite hormones and create a feeling of fullness.
BRADSHAW: I'd like to refer to it as my Thanksgiving full feeling, that feeling that you get when you just have completely stuffed yourself and can't move.
GUPTA: Candy lost more than 100 pounds. But doctors caution that shocking the appetite isn't for everyone.
SHIKORA: Somebody who probably would not do well with this would be someone with a history of binge eating or other eating disorders because those folks generally don't listen to the signals of fullness.
GUPTA: IGS is currently in stage three clinical trials and could be on the market as early as 2006 as a mechanism to treat the morbidly obese. So far, no side effects have been reported. And Candy recognizes that the IGS was just one part of her weight-loss.
BRADSHAW: It's not going to motivate you to exercise, and it's not going to prevent you from eating the wrong foods. So, I think of this as my conscience. It's just a tool to tell me, OK, you've had enough.
GUPTA: Or just a little help with your willpower.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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PHILLIPS: Since 9/11, frequent flyers have often been frustrated by the extra time that it takes to get through airport security trip after trip. Now the federal government believes it has a better idea.
Chris Lawrence has the story of an airport pilot program about to take off in the Twin Cities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Between the hand checks and bag searches, frequent fliers never know how long they'll wait in security lines.
CHARLIE ZELLE, FREQUENT FLIER: Tuesday it took five minutes and Wednesday it took 90 minutes.
LAWRENCE: That could be the reason hundreds accepted an invitation to apply for the new Registered Traveler program, now being tested by the TSA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What it's going to do is it's going to take three scans of each index finger.
LAWRENCE: Like Lori Stopperan, they fly about once a week and don't mind giving fingerprints and optical scans to avoid tighter screening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to take one more verification.
LAWRENCE: They'll still have to pass through metal detectors, but in a special lane at one of the checkpoints.
GARY FISHMAN, NORTHWEST AIRLINES: Why do you have to put them through the same level of scrutiny at the -- at the airport, as someone you know nothing about?
LAWRENCE: They won't be pulled out of line for flying one way, or random screening. And that's just the beginning.
JIM WELLNA, DEPUTY DIR., TSA: Eventually we hope to be able to add some things, like not perhaps having to take your laptop out of your bag. Not having to take your shoes off, having to take your overcoat off. We're going to build and learn.
LAWRENCE: If it works, the program could go national. But its potential is the problem for some privacy advocates.
JAY STANLEY, ACLU: Whenever you put the government into the role of judging American citizens, and making judgments about who's trusted and who's not, that raises serious questions, because that's really an unprecedented thing for the government to do.
LAWRENCE: But one that some frequent fliers are comfortable with.
LORI STOPPERAN, FREQUENT FLIER: Especially on heavy travel days, like the weekends, it'll be way worth it.
LAWRENCE: The TSA's Trusted Travelers begin flying next week in Minnesota. And over the next few weeks: Boston, Houston, Washington and L.A.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Bloomington, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Wall Street watching and waiting as the Federal Reserve meets to discuss interest rates.
Rhonda Schaffler live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Rhonda.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
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SCHAFFLER: Still to come, Starbucks is joining the battle of the bulge and a popular frozen drink is going on a diet. I'll have that story later this hour as CNN's LIVE FROM... will be right back.
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