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Black Box Warning; U.S., Iraqi Forces Take on Battle Months in the Making; Kerry in Wisconsin

Aired October 15, 2004 - 13:59   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.


DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: A health alert. The FDA ordering new warning labels for antidepressants to protect children.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Rallying the faithful and reaching out to the fence straddlers in the final push for your vote. We're live from the campaign trail.

GRIFFIN: Election troubles even before voters head to the polls? It's a sign of worse things to come in November, perhaps.

PHILLIPS: And a man who says he shook bin Laden's hand and trained with al Qaeda shares his story with CNN.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

GRIFFIN: I'm Drew Griffin, in for Miles O'Brien today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: We begin this hour with Children, depression and suicide. Three words no one wants to hear in the same sentence, and so comes the FDA with a so-called black box warning regarding antidepressants that can have exactly the opposite effect in children and teens. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now joins me with the details.

Not an easy thing to talk about.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not an easy thing to talk about. And so many people, they'll put these -- or allow the doctor to put the kid on an antidepressant thinking, oh, this is going to be the way to solve my children's problem, or at least to help solve it. But there have -- doctors say there have been some cases where these drugs have been linked to a child possibly becoming suicidal.

That's what some doctors say. And this has been going on for quite awhile now.

There have been families of children who've killed themselves who point to these drugs, some of which you're seeing right now, and say, hey, this is the reason why my child killed themselves. And then there have been people on the other side saying, no, the drugs weren't to blame, it was because the child had a psychological illness to begin with. So this has been debated back and forth in front of the FDA. Today, the FDA came out with new orders for drug companies about warnings that they need to place on their product.

They need to place on the label a warning that there's an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors when kids and teenagers take these drugs. The warnings need to be not just on the label but also on patient information, information that's actually handed to the patients. And this applies to a class of drugs that include Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, as well as other drugs.

Now, doctors are also going to be warned, if they prescribe these drugs to kids and teenagers, they need to monitor the kids very, very carefully. There have been reports of some parents who say, look, my kid was put on Zoloft because he or she had anxiety taking tests, for example, and they were really fine before, they weren't suicidal, and they didn't know that they should watch their child for suicidal tendencies. This warning will say doctors really need to monitor these kids closely.

PHILLIPS: So why not ban these drugs for kids altogether?

COHEN: Because doctors say that for some kids these drugs are really a godsend. They say, you know, what we have kids who are very, very depressed, they go on these antidepressants and they get much better. No one is sure why these drugs help so many kids but also may possibly hurt some other kids.

PHILLIPS: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, with flu season drawing even closer and flu vaccines getting no less scarce, some states and cities are turning to strong-arm tactics to ration what serum they have. In Michigan and Washington, D.C., for instance, it's now illegal to give shots to low- risk people.

Doctors in D.C. face $1,000 fines if they immunize anybody who isn't elderly, very young or chronically ill. In New Mexico, even the elderly are being asked to roll their sleeves down if they are generally healthy.

GRIFFIN: Don't look to Ramadan for a respite in the fight for Iraq. As a new moon ushers in the Muslim holy month dedicated to fasting and prayer, U.S. and Iraqi forces take on a battle months in the making. And a day after bombs in the Green Zone, more Baghdad civilians are killed in a car bombing.

Here's CNN's senior international correspondent, Brent Sadler.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A strong U.S.-led military push on Falluja aimed at breaking the hold of insurgents in the rebel stronghold. American and Iraqi ground troops encircle the city on the back of a powerful assault by American artillery and war planes, blasting suspected insurgent activity.

Still, a powerful car bomb aimed at Iraqi police detonated in southern Baghdad on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, killing at least 10 Iraqi civilians. It is in an attempt to stop such carnage that stepped-up military action on Falluja has begun. It is not, say U.S. military officials, the start of a much-anticipated full-scale air and ground assault, but it could be the shape of things to come, given blunt warnings from the interim government here that multinational forces are poised to smash Falluja's deeply-entrenched and well-armed insurgents.

As U.S.-led ground forces tighten security around the city, Falluja's Sunni Muslim clerics threatened to declare a holy war on the Americans, charging that U.S. forces have arrested a key negotiator in failed peace talks with the interim government. Neither confirmed nor denied by the U.S. military.

Meanwhile, the bomb attacks on Baghdad's top security Green Zone that preceded the Falluja assault were carried out by suicide bombers, according to the U.S. military. Four Americans were killed and 27 other people wounded.

The Green Zone has repeatedly been hit by rocket and mortar fire in recent months. But the suicide attack breaks new ground, underscoring the vulnerability of even the most heavily protected places in Iraq.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, those suicide bombings inside Iraq's supposedly most secure area have triggered even more security, not to mention anxiety. Ramadan or not. In fact, last Ramadan, attacks by insurgents nationwide went up an estimated 30 percent.

I'm joined on the phone now by U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan inside the Green Zone.

Colonel, there you are living inside an area that is supposed to be very well protected. I'm just curious if you were all extremely surprised when the suicide bombing took place.

LT. COL. STEVEN BOYLAN, U.S. ARMY: Good afternoon. It was a surprise for everyone, I believe. We did have intelligence that we were going to be a potential target for increased attacks, and we had taken -- we had taken some steps to help mitigate those, but determined an individual can get through, as we saw. And it's unfortunate that there were five casualties and many wounded.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know you've increased security. Visible signs are there, and also non-visible. Of course, we can't talk the non- visible, but visibly, how has security been upped in that area within the Green Zone now?

BOYLAN: With the many visible means, such as we've had increased close air support by rotary-going (ph) helicopters, increased our arms patrols both in and outside the international zone and other camps in and around Baghdad. We've also increased security at the Baghdad International Airport and other secure areas, increased the number of security forces that have been deployed to the international zone to help prevent and, if need be, respond to any attacks.

And one of the key things we have done is increased the awareness of the service members serving in the international zone and in various locations to be aware of their surroundings, not to go out alone, make sure they have their proper gear with them. And mainly get them aware of their surroundings so they can prevent things from happening.

PHILLIPS: Also, I want to remind our viewers, too, right there within the Green Zone also exists the U.S. embassy. Colonel, while I have you, I know you are in touch with all the operations going on throughout Iraq. Take us into Falluja, where we've seen an increase in operations. And do you feel that the men and women looking for Zarqawi are at any time or have been at any moment closer to capturing Osama bin Laden's number two?

BOYLAN: Well, as far as capturing Zarqawi, that's a -- that's a hard proposition. We're not giving up on that at all. We are actively pursuing that, and we're also requesting the support of the Iraqi citizens to help us in that search.

The Iraqi security forces and the multinational forces, we are continuing a very integrated offensive operation to pursue and neutralize the anti-Iraqi forces, or what many call insurgents and terrorists. We control right now many key areas outside the city of Falluja.

We are securing many key avenues of approach. And we have increased our security operations. We are -- we do feel that this has helped disrupt their movement and to prevent them from other attacks on both the Iraqi citizens, government and international forces.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, U.S. Army. Thank you, sir, for your time today within the Green Zone there.

BOYLAN: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: A very interesting poll out today concludes military families support President Bush more strongly than the rest of the nation does, and also feel better about the conflict in Iraq. The poll conducted among 655 active duty forces and reservists or members of their families by the Annenberg Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Among the findings, 64 percent said the war in Iraq was worth it. That's nearly two-thirds.

Fewer than half expressed belief that President Bush has a plan to conclude the plan successfully. Only 18 percent said the same for senator Kerry. And among those polled, Bush's approval rating was 67 percent. That's 20 points higher than the president's latest rating in the CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll.

PHILLIPS: More battleground state on the president's roadmap today after stops in Nevada and Oregon. He's campaigning in Iowa and Wisconsin today. The two showdown states went to Al Gore in 2000, but Bush is fighting hard to win them this election.

He has a rally later this hour in Cedar Rapids. We'll have more on that in our next half-hour.

Bush and Kerry may be miles apart when it comes to the issues, but in the critical fight for the battleground, they are crossing the same ground. John Kerry is also in Wisconsin today, hitting back on the economy. Our Ed Henry joins me now from Milwaukee, where Kerry just held a rally.

Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

That's right. John Kerry's camp feels like it has some momentum coming out of the three debates. That's translating into a little bit of a feistier stump speech in the two days since that final debate was wrapped up.

Yesterday, it was a sharp attack on President Bush's health care record at a conference of the AARP in Las Vegas. Today, it's at the Milwaukee area technical college. And that's where Kerry just wrapped up a speech zeroing in on the president's record on the economy and jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president said he's proud of his record. Proud of his record?

Proud of millions of Americans unemployed? Proud of tens of millions of Americans who have no health insurance? Proud of five million Americans losing it while he's been president? Proud of American families raising costs and having falling incomes?

Let me tell you -- and he's proud, and he said this on the very day that the federal government announced the largest deficit in American history. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if this is what he's proud of, I would hate to see what he is ashamed of.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: There you hear John Kerry hitting the jobs issue hard in a state, Wisconsin, that has lost 67,000 manufacturing jobs in the last four years. Ten electoral votes here at stake. The Democrats carried it in 2000.

John Kerry having some trouble wrapping it up this time. It's a state that is very much up for grabs. As you mentioned, President Bush coming through this state as well today.

John Kerry, in order to try to shore it up, is heading on a bus tour after this speech through the rest of the state. He's going to be touring with some members of the U.S. women's soccer team, trying to reach out to soccer moms, perhaps. But also, he's on to Ohio this evening. That's another state that has obviously been hit pretty hard by manufacturing job losses.

He also is trying to push the envelope there. That's a state clearly that President Bush carried last time.

Polls show it very much up for grabs this time. Kerry wants to pull it from the Republican column to the Democrat column -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, thanks so much.

And ahead on CNN today, Candy Crowley will have a one-on-one interview with John Kerry at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And Jon Stewart, you know him, of course, from the "Daily Show," will be in the "CROSSFIRE" today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

GRIFFIN: Tracking terror north of the border. A Canadian man tells a fascinating story of training with the Taliban and his links to al Qaeda.

And ahead, immigrants in America, how the newcomers and their neighbors are coping with cross-cultural tensions.

And who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick? Proof that a mother's love knows no boundaries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's the new wave of immigration into the United States, and much of it is illegal. Thousands of them cross the border, but many of them are not welcome. And their presence is causing deep divisions in some communities.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Well, I'm proud to be an American...

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): July 4 in northern Georgia in the cradle of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ... who gave that right to me.

HINOJOSA: The people of Clayton, Georgia, are taking in the good life and feeling patriotic. But the ones who make this party possible are people like Gabe...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another plate? OK.

HINOJOSA: ... who asked us not to use his last name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard work today. There's no Independence Day for us, just for the American people.

HINOJOSA: Gabe got here four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only I know Georgia for Atlanta, the Olympics Games. Maybe this city is meant more rich. People is rich.

HINOJOSA: Gabe, his wife and son came here with a legal visa to visit Disneyland. They just never left. They were just getting by in Mexico, but they risked losing everything for a chance at something better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In Mexico, we had less time to be together as a family. Here, we have more time to share together. Our economic situation is much better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of people have balloons today.

HINOJOSA: Just one hour south in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Jimmy Hercheck (ph), another proud Southerner, is also feeling patriotic, passing down his traditions to his daughters, Alice and Beatrice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throw her out some food, Beatrice.

HINOJOSA: Some Latinos watch the celebrations from a distance. Jimmy Hercheck (ph) thinks they're still too close.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see what's happening here in our county reminds me of what they call the barrios, you know, the poor neighborhoods in Southern California.

HINOJOSA (on camera): What's happening now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody is coming to pick up workers.

HINOJOSA (voice over): Hercheck (ph) is living in a Georgia transformed. Some 100,000 Latinos have settled in his county, more than in any other county in Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several dozen men out here looking for jobs, and there's just two or three jobs that they can get at one time. HINOJOSA: About half of those Latinos are illegal. Hercheck (ph) says they're destroying his neighborhood. A year ago, he sold his house and moved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It brings back a lot of memories. It was pretty much your middle-class family neighborhood. And now you look around, it's maybe half small families and the other half have become pretty much boarding houses. I'm afraid that America could become a third-world country. We're importing poverty by millions every year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Our Maria Hinojosa now joins us live to talk more about her documentary.

Maria, just looking at this part two, a bit of a tease to what's coming up this weekend with your hour special, and looking at these workers, meeting these workers, this is not what they want for their kids down the road, right? This is not something they want to continue.

HINOJOSA: No. What they want, in fact, as we said in the documentary, many of them risk everything, risk their lives crossing the border coming here to get something better.

What you are seeing when you see the men doing this day labor work, essentially that's the bottom of the ladder. This is the first rung. What they do when they first arrive in this country.

But this is not what they want to do. And certainly not what they want for their children. Many of them are hoping that their children will have the opportunity to be American citizens and will be able to go to school and get educated and get the jobs that their parents have to do in order to pay for their kids.

PHILLIPS: And I see the video within your documentary. Also, as you know, we live here in Atlanta. So I see this quite a bit, certainly around certain businesses and certain neighborhoods.

Do these families, do these workers ever worry about just getting into these cars and taking work at any cost? I mean, I would think there's a safety concern somewhat.

HINOJOSA: Yes. Absolutely, Kyra. It's very dangerous.

I mean, here in New York, there had been a case -- there was a case a couple of years ago where two day labors were taken and beaten within just inches of their lives by people who are against immigrants. And a lot of the tension that you see right now around the issue of immigration is leading to people feeling so frustrated that they are taking out their frustration against the individuals. Even though most of these anti-immigrant activists will say the problem really is the government that's not giving them straight answers or the fact that they're not able to control the borders, but the anger oftentimes is directed right directly at the immigrants.

PHILLIPS: Maria Hinojosa. Thanks so much. We sure look forward to the whole documentary.

And you can see the entire documentary, "Immigrant Nation, Divided Country," this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. The "CNN PRESENTS" special explores the lives of four families and the issue of illegal immigration in America.

GRIFFIN: Waiting for an October surprise? A last-minute change in strategy? What you need to watch for as the candidates try to win that last vote.

MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Mark McKay at Fenway Park in Boston. Will a change of scenery mean a change of fortune for the Red Sox in the American League championship series? A live report coming up

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange, where investors are again bailing out of insurance stocks after a company is accused of rigging bids. Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: CNN's Mark McKay live at Fenway, getting set for tonight's game three of the American League championship between the Sox and the Yanks.

And Mark, it looks like even the skies in Boston are crying. They are down 2-0. What's going on?

MCKAY: Yes, a little gray here. That's right, Drew.

Boston catcher Jason Varitek summed it up -- summed it up best: "Every game is a must win now." Isn't that the case?

The Red Sox have dug themselves a hole in the American League title series after losing the first two games in New York. The Boston Red Sox faithful, though, will come out en masse to Fenway Park for game three tonight here at Fenway against the Yankees.

And perhaps the return to this hallowed ballpark will do wonders for the bat of slugger Johnny Damon. The Red Sox slugger has done anything but slug so far in this series, going zero for 8, with five strikeouts. So the pressure is on for Damon to perform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY DAMON, BOSTON RED SOX: I'm better than that, and they -- they know the big way to beat our team is to stop me. And that's what they've been doing.

They've been throwing tough pitches, and I just haven't been having good at-bats. So the minute I start swinging, I mean, it's going to be a different story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've really pitched him tough. They Mike Mussina had that breaking ball that was disappearing. He ran the fastball, you know, the one that kind of starts in and goes back over the plate.

And sometimes, too, you catch a guy for a game or two when they just are not swinging very well. So it's probably a combination of all of those above.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKAY: Now, if the Red Sox are looking to try to get their swagger back, they need look no further than tonight's starting pitcher. Boston gives the ball to Bronson Arroyo, a right-hander that you may remember, Drew, plucked Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez in a game played here in late July that hit -- went out and started a bases-clearing brawl here at Fenway Park between these two. Let's hope that doesn't happen tonight.

GRIFFIN: I bet there are some people hoping it does, actually. They kind of like that Sox-Yankees fist-to-cuffs thing, don't they? Thanks, Mark.

PHILLIPS: We're getting some breaking news in about U.S. Airways.

GRIFFIN: Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange with that.

Rhonda, what's going on?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired October 15, 2004 - 13:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: A health alert. The FDA ordering new warning labels for antidepressants to protect children.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Rallying the faithful and reaching out to the fence straddlers in the final push for your vote. We're live from the campaign trail.

GRIFFIN: Election troubles even before voters head to the polls? It's a sign of worse things to come in November, perhaps.

PHILLIPS: And a man who says he shook bin Laden's hand and trained with al Qaeda shares his story with CNN.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

GRIFFIN: I'm Drew Griffin, in for Miles O'Brien today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: We begin this hour with Children, depression and suicide. Three words no one wants to hear in the same sentence, and so comes the FDA with a so-called black box warning regarding antidepressants that can have exactly the opposite effect in children and teens. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now joins me with the details.

Not an easy thing to talk about.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not an easy thing to talk about. And so many people, they'll put these -- or allow the doctor to put the kid on an antidepressant thinking, oh, this is going to be the way to solve my children's problem, or at least to help solve it. But there have -- doctors say there have been some cases where these drugs have been linked to a child possibly becoming suicidal.

That's what some doctors say. And this has been going on for quite awhile now.

There have been families of children who've killed themselves who point to these drugs, some of which you're seeing right now, and say, hey, this is the reason why my child killed themselves. And then there have been people on the other side saying, no, the drugs weren't to blame, it was because the child had a psychological illness to begin with. So this has been debated back and forth in front of the FDA. Today, the FDA came out with new orders for drug companies about warnings that they need to place on their product.

They need to place on the label a warning that there's an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors when kids and teenagers take these drugs. The warnings need to be not just on the label but also on patient information, information that's actually handed to the patients. And this applies to a class of drugs that include Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, as well as other drugs.

Now, doctors are also going to be warned, if they prescribe these drugs to kids and teenagers, they need to monitor the kids very, very carefully. There have been reports of some parents who say, look, my kid was put on Zoloft because he or she had anxiety taking tests, for example, and they were really fine before, they weren't suicidal, and they didn't know that they should watch their child for suicidal tendencies. This warning will say doctors really need to monitor these kids closely.

PHILLIPS: So why not ban these drugs for kids altogether?

COHEN: Because doctors say that for some kids these drugs are really a godsend. They say, you know, what we have kids who are very, very depressed, they go on these antidepressants and they get much better. No one is sure why these drugs help so many kids but also may possibly hurt some other kids.

PHILLIPS: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, with flu season drawing even closer and flu vaccines getting no less scarce, some states and cities are turning to strong-arm tactics to ration what serum they have. In Michigan and Washington, D.C., for instance, it's now illegal to give shots to low- risk people.

Doctors in D.C. face $1,000 fines if they immunize anybody who isn't elderly, very young or chronically ill. In New Mexico, even the elderly are being asked to roll their sleeves down if they are generally healthy.

GRIFFIN: Don't look to Ramadan for a respite in the fight for Iraq. As a new moon ushers in the Muslim holy month dedicated to fasting and prayer, U.S. and Iraqi forces take on a battle months in the making. And a day after bombs in the Green Zone, more Baghdad civilians are killed in a car bombing.

Here's CNN's senior international correspondent, Brent Sadler.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A strong U.S.-led military push on Falluja aimed at breaking the hold of insurgents in the rebel stronghold. American and Iraqi ground troops encircle the city on the back of a powerful assault by American artillery and war planes, blasting suspected insurgent activity.

Still, a powerful car bomb aimed at Iraqi police detonated in southern Baghdad on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, killing at least 10 Iraqi civilians. It is in an attempt to stop such carnage that stepped-up military action on Falluja has begun. It is not, say U.S. military officials, the start of a much-anticipated full-scale air and ground assault, but it could be the shape of things to come, given blunt warnings from the interim government here that multinational forces are poised to smash Falluja's deeply-entrenched and well-armed insurgents.

As U.S.-led ground forces tighten security around the city, Falluja's Sunni Muslim clerics threatened to declare a holy war on the Americans, charging that U.S. forces have arrested a key negotiator in failed peace talks with the interim government. Neither confirmed nor denied by the U.S. military.

Meanwhile, the bomb attacks on Baghdad's top security Green Zone that preceded the Falluja assault were carried out by suicide bombers, according to the U.S. military. Four Americans were killed and 27 other people wounded.

The Green Zone has repeatedly been hit by rocket and mortar fire in recent months. But the suicide attack breaks new ground, underscoring the vulnerability of even the most heavily protected places in Iraq.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, those suicide bombings inside Iraq's supposedly most secure area have triggered even more security, not to mention anxiety. Ramadan or not. In fact, last Ramadan, attacks by insurgents nationwide went up an estimated 30 percent.

I'm joined on the phone now by U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan inside the Green Zone.

Colonel, there you are living inside an area that is supposed to be very well protected. I'm just curious if you were all extremely surprised when the suicide bombing took place.

LT. COL. STEVEN BOYLAN, U.S. ARMY: Good afternoon. It was a surprise for everyone, I believe. We did have intelligence that we were going to be a potential target for increased attacks, and we had taken -- we had taken some steps to help mitigate those, but determined an individual can get through, as we saw. And it's unfortunate that there were five casualties and many wounded.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know you've increased security. Visible signs are there, and also non-visible. Of course, we can't talk the non- visible, but visibly, how has security been upped in that area within the Green Zone now?

BOYLAN: With the many visible means, such as we've had increased close air support by rotary-going (ph) helicopters, increased our arms patrols both in and outside the international zone and other camps in and around Baghdad. We've also increased security at the Baghdad International Airport and other secure areas, increased the number of security forces that have been deployed to the international zone to help prevent and, if need be, respond to any attacks.

And one of the key things we have done is increased the awareness of the service members serving in the international zone and in various locations to be aware of their surroundings, not to go out alone, make sure they have their proper gear with them. And mainly get them aware of their surroundings so they can prevent things from happening.

PHILLIPS: Also, I want to remind our viewers, too, right there within the Green Zone also exists the U.S. embassy. Colonel, while I have you, I know you are in touch with all the operations going on throughout Iraq. Take us into Falluja, where we've seen an increase in operations. And do you feel that the men and women looking for Zarqawi are at any time or have been at any moment closer to capturing Osama bin Laden's number two?

BOYLAN: Well, as far as capturing Zarqawi, that's a -- that's a hard proposition. We're not giving up on that at all. We are actively pursuing that, and we're also requesting the support of the Iraqi citizens to help us in that search.

The Iraqi security forces and the multinational forces, we are continuing a very integrated offensive operation to pursue and neutralize the anti-Iraqi forces, or what many call insurgents and terrorists. We control right now many key areas outside the city of Falluja.

We are securing many key avenues of approach. And we have increased our security operations. We are -- we do feel that this has helped disrupt their movement and to prevent them from other attacks on both the Iraqi citizens, government and international forces.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, U.S. Army. Thank you, sir, for your time today within the Green Zone there.

BOYLAN: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: A very interesting poll out today concludes military families support President Bush more strongly than the rest of the nation does, and also feel better about the conflict in Iraq. The poll conducted among 655 active duty forces and reservists or members of their families by the Annenberg Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Among the findings, 64 percent said the war in Iraq was worth it. That's nearly two-thirds.

Fewer than half expressed belief that President Bush has a plan to conclude the plan successfully. Only 18 percent said the same for senator Kerry. And among those polled, Bush's approval rating was 67 percent. That's 20 points higher than the president's latest rating in the CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll.

PHILLIPS: More battleground state on the president's roadmap today after stops in Nevada and Oregon. He's campaigning in Iowa and Wisconsin today. The two showdown states went to Al Gore in 2000, but Bush is fighting hard to win them this election.

He has a rally later this hour in Cedar Rapids. We'll have more on that in our next half-hour.

Bush and Kerry may be miles apart when it comes to the issues, but in the critical fight for the battleground, they are crossing the same ground. John Kerry is also in Wisconsin today, hitting back on the economy. Our Ed Henry joins me now from Milwaukee, where Kerry just held a rally.

Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

That's right. John Kerry's camp feels like it has some momentum coming out of the three debates. That's translating into a little bit of a feistier stump speech in the two days since that final debate was wrapped up.

Yesterday, it was a sharp attack on President Bush's health care record at a conference of the AARP in Las Vegas. Today, it's at the Milwaukee area technical college. And that's where Kerry just wrapped up a speech zeroing in on the president's record on the economy and jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president said he's proud of his record. Proud of his record?

Proud of millions of Americans unemployed? Proud of tens of millions of Americans who have no health insurance? Proud of five million Americans losing it while he's been president? Proud of American families raising costs and having falling incomes?

Let me tell you -- and he's proud, and he said this on the very day that the federal government announced the largest deficit in American history. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if this is what he's proud of, I would hate to see what he is ashamed of.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: There you hear John Kerry hitting the jobs issue hard in a state, Wisconsin, that has lost 67,000 manufacturing jobs in the last four years. Ten electoral votes here at stake. The Democrats carried it in 2000.

John Kerry having some trouble wrapping it up this time. It's a state that is very much up for grabs. As you mentioned, President Bush coming through this state as well today.

John Kerry, in order to try to shore it up, is heading on a bus tour after this speech through the rest of the state. He's going to be touring with some members of the U.S. women's soccer team, trying to reach out to soccer moms, perhaps. But also, he's on to Ohio this evening. That's another state that has obviously been hit pretty hard by manufacturing job losses.

He also is trying to push the envelope there. That's a state clearly that President Bush carried last time.

Polls show it very much up for grabs this time. Kerry wants to pull it from the Republican column to the Democrat column -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, thanks so much.

And ahead on CNN today, Candy Crowley will have a one-on-one interview with John Kerry at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And Jon Stewart, you know him, of course, from the "Daily Show," will be in the "CROSSFIRE" today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

GRIFFIN: Tracking terror north of the border. A Canadian man tells a fascinating story of training with the Taliban and his links to al Qaeda.

And ahead, immigrants in America, how the newcomers and their neighbors are coping with cross-cultural tensions.

And who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick? Proof that a mother's love knows no boundaries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's the new wave of immigration into the United States, and much of it is illegal. Thousands of them cross the border, but many of them are not welcome. And their presence is causing deep divisions in some communities.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Well, I'm proud to be an American...

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): July 4 in northern Georgia in the cradle of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ... who gave that right to me.

HINOJOSA: The people of Clayton, Georgia, are taking in the good life and feeling patriotic. But the ones who make this party possible are people like Gabe...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another plate? OK.

HINOJOSA: ... who asked us not to use his last name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard work today. There's no Independence Day for us, just for the American people.

HINOJOSA: Gabe got here four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only I know Georgia for Atlanta, the Olympics Games. Maybe this city is meant more rich. People is rich.

HINOJOSA: Gabe, his wife and son came here with a legal visa to visit Disneyland. They just never left. They were just getting by in Mexico, but they risked losing everything for a chance at something better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In Mexico, we had less time to be together as a family. Here, we have more time to share together. Our economic situation is much better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of people have balloons today.

HINOJOSA: Just one hour south in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Jimmy Hercheck (ph), another proud Southerner, is also feeling patriotic, passing down his traditions to his daughters, Alice and Beatrice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throw her out some food, Beatrice.

HINOJOSA: Some Latinos watch the celebrations from a distance. Jimmy Hercheck (ph) thinks they're still too close.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see what's happening here in our county reminds me of what they call the barrios, you know, the poor neighborhoods in Southern California.

HINOJOSA (on camera): What's happening now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody is coming to pick up workers.

HINOJOSA (voice over): Hercheck (ph) is living in a Georgia transformed. Some 100,000 Latinos have settled in his county, more than in any other county in Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several dozen men out here looking for jobs, and there's just two or three jobs that they can get at one time. HINOJOSA: About half of those Latinos are illegal. Hercheck (ph) says they're destroying his neighborhood. A year ago, he sold his house and moved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It brings back a lot of memories. It was pretty much your middle-class family neighborhood. And now you look around, it's maybe half small families and the other half have become pretty much boarding houses. I'm afraid that America could become a third-world country. We're importing poverty by millions every year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Our Maria Hinojosa now joins us live to talk more about her documentary.

Maria, just looking at this part two, a bit of a tease to what's coming up this weekend with your hour special, and looking at these workers, meeting these workers, this is not what they want for their kids down the road, right? This is not something they want to continue.

HINOJOSA: No. What they want, in fact, as we said in the documentary, many of them risk everything, risk their lives crossing the border coming here to get something better.

What you are seeing when you see the men doing this day labor work, essentially that's the bottom of the ladder. This is the first rung. What they do when they first arrive in this country.

But this is not what they want to do. And certainly not what they want for their children. Many of them are hoping that their children will have the opportunity to be American citizens and will be able to go to school and get educated and get the jobs that their parents have to do in order to pay for their kids.

PHILLIPS: And I see the video within your documentary. Also, as you know, we live here in Atlanta. So I see this quite a bit, certainly around certain businesses and certain neighborhoods.

Do these families, do these workers ever worry about just getting into these cars and taking work at any cost? I mean, I would think there's a safety concern somewhat.

HINOJOSA: Yes. Absolutely, Kyra. It's very dangerous.

I mean, here in New York, there had been a case -- there was a case a couple of years ago where two day labors were taken and beaten within just inches of their lives by people who are against immigrants. And a lot of the tension that you see right now around the issue of immigration is leading to people feeling so frustrated that they are taking out their frustration against the individuals. Even though most of these anti-immigrant activists will say the problem really is the government that's not giving them straight answers or the fact that they're not able to control the borders, but the anger oftentimes is directed right directly at the immigrants.

PHILLIPS: Maria Hinojosa. Thanks so much. We sure look forward to the whole documentary.

And you can see the entire documentary, "Immigrant Nation, Divided Country," this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. The "CNN PRESENTS" special explores the lives of four families and the issue of illegal immigration in America.

GRIFFIN: Waiting for an October surprise? A last-minute change in strategy? What you need to watch for as the candidates try to win that last vote.

MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Mark McKay at Fenway Park in Boston. Will a change of scenery mean a change of fortune for the Red Sox in the American League championship series? A live report coming up

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange, where investors are again bailing out of insurance stocks after a company is accused of rigging bids. Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: CNN's Mark McKay live at Fenway, getting set for tonight's game three of the American League championship between the Sox and the Yanks.

And Mark, it looks like even the skies in Boston are crying. They are down 2-0. What's going on?

MCKAY: Yes, a little gray here. That's right, Drew.

Boston catcher Jason Varitek summed it up -- summed it up best: "Every game is a must win now." Isn't that the case?

The Red Sox have dug themselves a hole in the American League title series after losing the first two games in New York. The Boston Red Sox faithful, though, will come out en masse to Fenway Park for game three tonight here at Fenway against the Yankees.

And perhaps the return to this hallowed ballpark will do wonders for the bat of slugger Johnny Damon. The Red Sox slugger has done anything but slug so far in this series, going zero for 8, with five strikeouts. So the pressure is on for Damon to perform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY DAMON, BOSTON RED SOX: I'm better than that, and they -- they know the big way to beat our team is to stop me. And that's what they've been doing.

They've been throwing tough pitches, and I just haven't been having good at-bats. So the minute I start swinging, I mean, it's going to be a different story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've really pitched him tough. They Mike Mussina had that breaking ball that was disappearing. He ran the fastball, you know, the one that kind of starts in and goes back over the plate.

And sometimes, too, you catch a guy for a game or two when they just are not swinging very well. So it's probably a combination of all of those above.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKAY: Now, if the Red Sox are looking to try to get their swagger back, they need look no further than tonight's starting pitcher. Boston gives the ball to Bronson Arroyo, a right-hander that you may remember, Drew, plucked Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez in a game played here in late July that hit -- went out and started a bases-clearing brawl here at Fenway Park between these two. Let's hope that doesn't happen tonight.

GRIFFIN: I bet there are some people hoping it does, actually. They kind of like that Sox-Yankees fist-to-cuffs thing, don't they? Thanks, Mark.

PHILLIPS: We're getting some breaking news in about U.S. Airways.

GRIFFIN: Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange with that.

Rhonda, what's going on?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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