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'America's Face to the World'; U.S. Military Says it has Secured Falluja; Military Probe Into Shooting of Wounded Insurgent
Aired November 16, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says she's the right woman for the critical time. This hour the challenge is ahead for Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Is your car likely to be stolen? It depends on where you live. We'll break down the hotspots for grand theft auto.
PHILLIPS: Saving humans' closest relatives: one woman's fight to save an endangered primate one orphaned baby at a time.
HARRIS: And get ready for more from the Fab Four, the Beatles as you have probably never heard them before.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta -- I should have paused a little bit and let...
PHILLIPS: We'll hear plenty of it, I promise.
HARRIS: OK. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
A tear in the eye, a peck on the check of American's face to the world. For the 66th time in American history, a president has chosen a secretary of state. And for possibly the first time, surely only the second, misty eyes and kisses were part of the announcement.
"The face to the world," quoting President Bush's description of the office, belongs to Condoleezza Rice, his longtime national security adviser. We get the details now from CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, Condoleezza Rice started out with George W. Bush essentially as his tutor when he was a governor running for president with no foreign policy experience. But over the last four years as his national security adviser, he is, many believe -- she is, many believe, the single biggest driving force in the Bush foreign policy. And that is why President Bush said that he is nominating her for his top diplomat position.
He said she has the experience, talking about her service to not just him, but two other presidents before him, including his father. And also said that she has the grace to be his top diplomat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the last four years I've relied on her counsel, benefited from her great experience, and appreciated her sound and steady judgment. And now I'm honored that she's agreed to serve in my cabinet.
Secretary of state is America's face to the world. And in Dr. Rice, the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now if confirmed, Rice will be the second woman, but the first black woman to be secretary of state. The president noted she will hold the post first held by Thomas Jefferson.
And as he spoke, Dr. Rice teared up, especially when he talked of her family, and what she refers to her, and that is her as a black woman growing up in the South, being denied some of the rights, basic rights of democracy that she says is important and is a driving force in her foreign policy and what she promotes through the Bush White House, which is democracy, particularly in the Middle East. That is obviously going to be atop of her agenda when she takes this role, when and if confirmed by the Senate.
Now, over the last 24 hours, we understand there has been some anxiety in Foggy Bottom at the State Department and in the ranks of the foreign service about Dr. Rice coming over there. They have seen Colin Powell as somebody who is a moderate, somebody who is very much focused on the art of diplomacy. And there is concern that she is somebody seen as a hard-liner and perhaps less apt to do that, and to follow in the path of Colin Powell. But today, Dr. Rice tried to quell some of the anxiety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In my 25 years of experience in foreign affairs, both in and out of government, I have come to know the men and women of the Department of State. I have the utmost admiration and respect for their skill, their professionalism and their dedication.
If I am confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working with the great people of the Foreign Service and the Civil Service. And one of my highest priorities as secretary will be to ensure that they have all the tools necessary to carry American diplomacy forward in the 21st century.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, congressional sources say they very much do expect Dr. Rice to be confirmed by the Senate. But Democrats on Capitol Hill say that they are going to try to ask some tough questions to remind people about some of the issues, some of the potential -- or possible problems that she was overseeing in terms of the Bush foreign policy over the last four years. Of course, Iraq, and whether or not and how she vetted critical intelligence information in making the case for war, particularly about weapons of mass of destruction that turned out not to be there.
Now, in terms of another appointment today, Mr. Bush also said that he was going to elevate Condoleezza Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, to be the national security adviser. He is somebody who does not need Senate confirmation -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash live from the White House. Thank you -- Tony.
HARRIS: Condoleezza Rice will have some jobs to fill herself when she gets to Foggy Bottom, including that of Deputy Richard Armitage. The distinctive presence and longtime ally of Colin Powell is leaving, too. Date of departure unknown.
We see him here just last week in Kabul, Afghanistan. Aides say Armitage submitted his resignation yesterday, the same day Powell's departure was announced.
PHILLIPS: Almost a month after the seemingly senseless kidnapping of aid worker Margaret Hassan in Iraq, word today of her apparent execution. Al-Jazeera says it has video of a blindfolded woman identified as Hassan being shot in the head. The video isn't being broadcast, but British officials, Hassan's family and her organization, CARE International, say it's probably genuine.
Hassan led CARE International's Iraqi operations and held British -- or Irish and Iraqi citizenship. She lived in Iraq for 30 years.
With the battle of Falluja winding down, there is relief for some people who fled the fighting. Food and water are reaching refugee camps on the outskirts of the city. It may be a while until they come home.
CNN's Jane Arraf is embedded with U.S. troops nearby.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: After a night of bombing, 500-pound bombs dropped on insurgent positions, as well as airstrikes. It has been uncharacteristically quiet in the southern part of Falluja, perhaps more quiet than it's been in the last week of intense battle. But although it's quiet, that doesn't mean that it's safe for civilians to return.
Marine commanders on the ground we've spoken with say they're discouraging civilians in Falluja from coming back to the city. One civil affairs official tells us that the water could be restored to the city within a few days. The electricity could be brought back within a couple of weeks.
But there is still the problem of improvised explosive devices, those homemade bombs, landmines, a variety of weapons, some of which we saw today laid out in a house after being collected in the southeast of Falluja. They included mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, improvised rocket-propelled grenade launchers, armor- piercing rockets, a variety of weapons that are lying around these neighbors that have to be cleaned up before anyone comes back.
Marine officials say that they want it to be safe before civilians start returning. Marine and Army commanders say that they believe they have defeated the insurgency, but that doesn't mean that all the insurgents are gone or that they won't come back.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from near Falluja.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And the military stepping up its battle against militants in other Iraqi flash points, most notably in the northern city of Mosul. Loud explosions and gunfire echoed throughout Mosul today.
U.S. and Iraqi forces worked to retake and secure police stations that had been overrun by gunmen. There was a big flare-up of violence here last week, apparently in support of the Falluja fighters. About 1,200 U.S. troops are taking part in the Mosul operation.
PHILLIPS: Did a Marine go too far in dealing with Iraqi insurgents? An investigation under way after a Marine allegedly shoots and kills a wounded insurgent inside a mosque. We're live from the Pentagon with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deep in my heart I know we already lost the battle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: But this woman still chooses to fight to save the endangered and endearing, new word of the day, Minobo (ph), monkeys. Their story later on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, the world is seeing what appears to be a U.S. Marine killing a wounded insurgent in Falluja, Iraq. A Marine commander says an investigation is under way into the shooting of an Iraqi man who was wounded and apparently unarmed. A news crew caught the incident on videotape.
CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is at her post with the latest.
Hello, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you again, Tony.
Yes, a criminal investigation now under way by the 1st Marine Division in Iraq into this incident last Saturday, depicted on videotape by a news crew that was traveling with the Marines. They entered a mosque and found five Iraqi insurgents wounded that had been left there. The circumstances not exactly clear, but let's look at the videotape and see the shooting as it occurs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there Marines in here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they're on the far right, far right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming around the back.
Hey, who's in here?
What (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you doing in here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) got shot by tanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
You guys almost got shot up by tanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told us to come in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tanks did? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They told us there were people in here, and tell us to come in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we had two in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have any weapons on them?
Same guys from yesterday? All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the ones from yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the wounded that they never picked up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) faking he's dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's faking (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Tony, that last noise you hear on the tape is the sound of that gun going off. We are not showing you the actual shooting, of course. That is much to explicit. You hear the bullet go of. The man, the Iraqi insurgent shot in the head. Some very disturbing video, but what it all means remains to be seen. A criminal investigation under way. The Marine involved has been removed from his frontline duty, we are told. He is undergoing questioning.
What investigators will be looking at is to try to determine exactly what this tape does show. Did the Marines feel in that mosque that they were under threat from any of those Iraqi insurgents? Did they pose a threat? And were the Marines acting in self-defense against enemy combatants, or was this possibly a case of a violation of the laws of armed conflict, if you will.
The Marines saying that is what they are looking into. It would be a crime to shoot an unarmed combatant on the field if they pose no threat and they were wounded in a situation where they clearly posed no threat to the Marines. So all of this, very disturbing video, but not terribly clear at this point exactly what the circumstances are -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Barbara. You're right, a lot of questions to be answered here. And when you look at the circumstances here, this is a shooting in a mosque.
This investigation is, of course, important to the military, but the Arab world is watching this as well, and we understand that Arab television is broadcasting these videos unedited. So it is potentially very explosive in the Arab world.
STARR: It is, indeed. There are so many videos, of course, that have emerged from the war in Iraq, hostage videos, combat videos. And as they are shown around the world on various news channels, this is something that concerns the Pentagon, that they often talk to the news media about.
They are concerned about it. One of the concerns about this video in particular is that insurgent groups who may see it may not surrender so readily. They may either be fearful of being shot while trying to surrender, or the feeling by some military people is this type of video may embolden them to fight on to the death even more than they already are. So there's just a lot of concern about these types of pictures getting out.
What we should also tell our viewers, they may have noticed during that video we pixilated, blurred, if you will, the name tags of these Marines. It should be very clear they are not charged with a crime yet, so there is some concern about protecting their privacy well until this investigation is completed -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. We'll see how it al shakes out. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's official. President Bush wants National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice to be the next secretary of state, assuming the Senate approves her. What challenges will rice face in her new post? National Public Radio political editor, Ken Rudin, is in our Washington bureau with, of course, many thoughts on this. Great to see you, Ken.
KEN RUDIN, NPR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's lay it out, pros and cons of Condi Rice.
RUDIN: Well, the pros, of course, is that, unlike Colin Powell, who was more independent from the president perhaps than the president would have liked, Condi Rice is a close Bush adviser, very close to the Bush family, and obviously much more attuned to his way of thinking.
Cons, of course, is that -- is that, you know, you had Colin Powell, who might be able to stand up to President Bush and say, look, you know, this might be wrong, this might be a different way of doing it. But, you know, with a close adviser now, with the attorney general, with Alberto Gonzales, with a close adviser, the secretary of state, you may not have that -- that differing opinion.
PHILLIPS: So let's say you do surround yourself by all these loyalists, all of these individuals that have been your good friend and supporter. Is that healthy? Is that good when you're running a country?
Don't you want people that will get in there like a Colin Powell and challenge you? And you want constructive criticism?
RUDIN: Well, you do want that, but you also -- also don't want battling between the state -- departments of State and Department of Defense, which is basically what you've had for the past four years. I mean, I think some of the reports -- the news reports of the battles between Cheney and Rumsfeld on one side and Powell on the other may have been overdone. But again, it was not the kind of cohesiveness that certainly President Bush wants, somebody who believes in loyalty and a loyal administration.
PHILLIPS: All right. So we talk about a lot of this tension and the shakeup that's going on in the cabinet. And everybody's saying, look, it's not that abnormal, this always happens.
Now, we've heard about this second-term curse. And historically, if you look at past presidents -- we did our research here -- Roosevelt had the court packing plant that sort of bombed in his face; Truman, frustration over Korean War, Eisenhower, the recession and the missile crisis; Nixon, Watergate; Reagan, Iran Contra; Clinton, Monica. I guess I'm curious to think what is going to be President Bush's secretary-term curse.
RUDIN: Well, you know, given the fact that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, I'm not going to predict anything that's going to happen now. But given the fact -- I think what happens is, really, is the president runs out of steam, the administration runs out of steam. The administration gets his top people in the first term, and then after the second -- by the second term, either they want to go out and make more money or they just leave for other opportunities. But by the start of the second term, they really -- they -- either they overreach -- I mean, we're talking about FDR with packing the court in 1938, with Iran Contra, the second Reagan term. There is a sense of overreaching.
But again, I think, you know, President Bush is very instructive, understands history very well. He knows exactly what the past presidents did. From the day he was elected, he knew the mistakes his father made in not getting a second term. So perhaps he'll be more wary than his predecessors were.
PHILLIPS: So you say overreaching, maybe getting a little too aggressive is what sort of causes this curse. Is it that? Is it the president himself that may be making some decisions that are a little too -- well, some have even said cocky, or is it because they've lost members in their cabinet's second term around and maybe didn't have that good of advice like they did the first time?
RUDIN: Well, I mean, every situation is different. When you think of Iran Contra in the Reagan second term, basically Reagan's health had deteriorated in the second term, as we now know.
Eisenhower was getting old, he had heart attacks in his second term. And that was part -- perhaps part of his, you know, successful first term, less successful second term.
So there's really -- really not one guide book to explain why a president falters in a second term. But again, we saw that President Reagan, a lot of his first-term loyalists, his California loyalists left before the second term. And again, he was on less familiar ground going into the second term.
Bush still has plenty of his loyalists. He'll have Condi Rice, he'll have Alberto Gonzales, maybe a successor to Tom Ridge if Tom Ridge leaves Homeland Security. So -- so we'll see what happens in a second term administration.
PHILLIPS: And the Boston Red Sox will still have?
RUDIN: I'm a Yankees fan. I can't talk about this right now. I'm still...
HARRIS: Still in mourning.
PHILLIPS: Ken Rudin, still spending a lot of time in isolation. All right. Read that political junky column.
RUDIN: Please.
PHILLIPS: It's pretty good. Yes, all right.
HARRIS: Did he say "Please?"
PHILLIPS: Yes.
HARRIS: A former pro athlete with a harrowing story to tell. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBIE TALLAS, FMR. VIOXX USER: My arm went numb. My left arm went numb, and then my right arm went numb. And so I turned to my wife and I said, "I think I'm having a heart attack here."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Now he's joining a lawsuit against the makers of Vioxx. That story straight ahead.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler in New York. Listen up, online shoppers. There is a new card out there that can protect you from identity theft. Details when LIVE FROM returns right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Did the drugmaker Merck drag its feet in recalling the painkiller Vioxx? A Senate panel hears testimony on the recall Thursday. Today on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," the Merck CEO pointed out it took a while for the potential health risk just to show up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO, MERCK: I think it's important to -- to keep in perspective here that the risks began only after 18 months of continuous use. And as the FDA pointed out in their press release on the day that we announced that we were voluntarily withdrawing the drug, that the risk for any one individual for a heart attack or a stroke was very small. And heart attacks and strokes occur generally throughout the population for a variety of risk factors, and because someone is taking Vioxx doesn't mean that Vioxx caused that event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Among those blaming Vioxx for health problems is a former professional hockey player. CNN's Chris Huntington has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get them back the ball! Come on! Whoa, saved by Tallas!
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robbie Tallas could have been a poster boy for a classic Canadian dream come true. He was a professional hockey player before he was 20, played six years in the NHL. Now Tallas has a better shot of being a poster boy for Vioxx lawsuits. His career came to a frightening halt after a game last December.
TALLAS: I just collapsed and started breathing really loud. And at that point my left arm went numb. My left arm went numb, and then my right arm went numb. So I turned to my wife, and I said, "I think I'm having a heart attack here." HUNTINGTON: Tallas and his doctors could not figure out why a 30- year-old pro athlete in peak condition, who he'd never smoked, never taken steroids, with no family history of heart disease, would have a heart attack. Tallas believes the answer came to him while he and his wife watched a news report about the Vioxx recall.
TALLAS: And all of a sudden, kind of putting the pieces together that there's a connection here.
HUNTINGTON: Merck's own study linked Vioxx to heart attacks in patients who'd taken the drug for more than 18 months. Tallas had taken Vioxx for two-and-a-half years. Sometimes twice a day, for the aches and pains that come from catching hockey pucks for a living.
TALLAS: It worked well on my shoulder. The trainer would come -- start at the back of the bus and make his way to the front, handing out little sample packets of Vioxx to each player.
HUNTINGTON: Tallas and his lawyers now plan to sue Merck, believing that Vioxx led to his heart attack.
STEVE JAFFE, ATTORNEY FOR TALLAS: The only intervening cause that we've come up with in our investigation is two-and-a-half years of consistent daily use of Vioxx.
HUNTINGTON: A recent FDA study found that Vioxx caused nearly 28,000 severe heart attacks, many of them fatal. Merck insists it always disclosed what it knew about the dangers of Vioxx, such as in April 2002, when at the FDA's request, Merck warned doctors that Vioxx's side effects included "serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes."
KEN FRAZIER, MERCK GENERAL COUNSEL: What we did at the time was appropriate given what was actually known about the drug. And I think our communications were fair and balanced based on the available clinical evidence.
HUNTINGTON: But since the warning in 2002, Merck continued to dismiss studies based primarily on methodology that found Vioxx raised the risk of heart disease. That is until Merck scientists came to the same conclusion this fall. And that's when Merck pulled Vioxx off the market.
FRAZIER: We felt that we did the right thing, and as a result we intend to defend ourselves vigorously.
HUNTINGTON (on camera): So far, fewer than 400 Vioxx-related lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 1,000 plaintiffs. But the number of plaintiffs could easily run into the tens of thousands when you consider that, according to Merck, more than 20 million people took Vioxx at some point in the past five years. One of them is a former professional hockey goalie who just wants to get back in the game.
Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Many consumers are weary about using their credit cards online, but one bank wants to do away with cards all together. Rhonda Schaffler joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain how it all works.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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Aired November 16, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says she's the right woman for the critical time. This hour the challenge is ahead for Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Is your car likely to be stolen? It depends on where you live. We'll break down the hotspots for grand theft auto.
PHILLIPS: Saving humans' closest relatives: one woman's fight to save an endangered primate one orphaned baby at a time.
HARRIS: And get ready for more from the Fab Four, the Beatles as you have probably never heard them before.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta -- I should have paused a little bit and let...
PHILLIPS: We'll hear plenty of it, I promise.
HARRIS: OK. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
A tear in the eye, a peck on the check of American's face to the world. For the 66th time in American history, a president has chosen a secretary of state. And for possibly the first time, surely only the second, misty eyes and kisses were part of the announcement.
"The face to the world," quoting President Bush's description of the office, belongs to Condoleezza Rice, his longtime national security adviser. We get the details now from CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, Condoleezza Rice started out with George W. Bush essentially as his tutor when he was a governor running for president with no foreign policy experience. But over the last four years as his national security adviser, he is, many believe -- she is, many believe, the single biggest driving force in the Bush foreign policy. And that is why President Bush said that he is nominating her for his top diplomat position.
He said she has the experience, talking about her service to not just him, but two other presidents before him, including his father. And also said that she has the grace to be his top diplomat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the last four years I've relied on her counsel, benefited from her great experience, and appreciated her sound and steady judgment. And now I'm honored that she's agreed to serve in my cabinet.
Secretary of state is America's face to the world. And in Dr. Rice, the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now if confirmed, Rice will be the second woman, but the first black woman to be secretary of state. The president noted she will hold the post first held by Thomas Jefferson.
And as he spoke, Dr. Rice teared up, especially when he talked of her family, and what she refers to her, and that is her as a black woman growing up in the South, being denied some of the rights, basic rights of democracy that she says is important and is a driving force in her foreign policy and what she promotes through the Bush White House, which is democracy, particularly in the Middle East. That is obviously going to be atop of her agenda when she takes this role, when and if confirmed by the Senate.
Now, over the last 24 hours, we understand there has been some anxiety in Foggy Bottom at the State Department and in the ranks of the foreign service about Dr. Rice coming over there. They have seen Colin Powell as somebody who is a moderate, somebody who is very much focused on the art of diplomacy. And there is concern that she is somebody seen as a hard-liner and perhaps less apt to do that, and to follow in the path of Colin Powell. But today, Dr. Rice tried to quell some of the anxiety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In my 25 years of experience in foreign affairs, both in and out of government, I have come to know the men and women of the Department of State. I have the utmost admiration and respect for their skill, their professionalism and their dedication.
If I am confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working with the great people of the Foreign Service and the Civil Service. And one of my highest priorities as secretary will be to ensure that they have all the tools necessary to carry American diplomacy forward in the 21st century.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, congressional sources say they very much do expect Dr. Rice to be confirmed by the Senate. But Democrats on Capitol Hill say that they are going to try to ask some tough questions to remind people about some of the issues, some of the potential -- or possible problems that she was overseeing in terms of the Bush foreign policy over the last four years. Of course, Iraq, and whether or not and how she vetted critical intelligence information in making the case for war, particularly about weapons of mass of destruction that turned out not to be there.
Now, in terms of another appointment today, Mr. Bush also said that he was going to elevate Condoleezza Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, to be the national security adviser. He is somebody who does not need Senate confirmation -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash live from the White House. Thank you -- Tony.
HARRIS: Condoleezza Rice will have some jobs to fill herself when she gets to Foggy Bottom, including that of Deputy Richard Armitage. The distinctive presence and longtime ally of Colin Powell is leaving, too. Date of departure unknown.
We see him here just last week in Kabul, Afghanistan. Aides say Armitage submitted his resignation yesterday, the same day Powell's departure was announced.
PHILLIPS: Almost a month after the seemingly senseless kidnapping of aid worker Margaret Hassan in Iraq, word today of her apparent execution. Al-Jazeera says it has video of a blindfolded woman identified as Hassan being shot in the head. The video isn't being broadcast, but British officials, Hassan's family and her organization, CARE International, say it's probably genuine.
Hassan led CARE International's Iraqi operations and held British -- or Irish and Iraqi citizenship. She lived in Iraq for 30 years.
With the battle of Falluja winding down, there is relief for some people who fled the fighting. Food and water are reaching refugee camps on the outskirts of the city. It may be a while until they come home.
CNN's Jane Arraf is embedded with U.S. troops nearby.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: After a night of bombing, 500-pound bombs dropped on insurgent positions, as well as airstrikes. It has been uncharacteristically quiet in the southern part of Falluja, perhaps more quiet than it's been in the last week of intense battle. But although it's quiet, that doesn't mean that it's safe for civilians to return.
Marine commanders on the ground we've spoken with say they're discouraging civilians in Falluja from coming back to the city. One civil affairs official tells us that the water could be restored to the city within a few days. The electricity could be brought back within a couple of weeks.
But there is still the problem of improvised explosive devices, those homemade bombs, landmines, a variety of weapons, some of which we saw today laid out in a house after being collected in the southeast of Falluja. They included mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, improvised rocket-propelled grenade launchers, armor- piercing rockets, a variety of weapons that are lying around these neighbors that have to be cleaned up before anyone comes back.
Marine officials say that they want it to be safe before civilians start returning. Marine and Army commanders say that they believe they have defeated the insurgency, but that doesn't mean that all the insurgents are gone or that they won't come back.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from near Falluja.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And the military stepping up its battle against militants in other Iraqi flash points, most notably in the northern city of Mosul. Loud explosions and gunfire echoed throughout Mosul today.
U.S. and Iraqi forces worked to retake and secure police stations that had been overrun by gunmen. There was a big flare-up of violence here last week, apparently in support of the Falluja fighters. About 1,200 U.S. troops are taking part in the Mosul operation.
PHILLIPS: Did a Marine go too far in dealing with Iraqi insurgents? An investigation under way after a Marine allegedly shoots and kills a wounded insurgent inside a mosque. We're live from the Pentagon with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deep in my heart I know we already lost the battle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: But this woman still chooses to fight to save the endangered and endearing, new word of the day, Minobo (ph), monkeys. Their story later on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, the world is seeing what appears to be a U.S. Marine killing a wounded insurgent in Falluja, Iraq. A Marine commander says an investigation is under way into the shooting of an Iraqi man who was wounded and apparently unarmed. A news crew caught the incident on videotape.
CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is at her post with the latest.
Hello, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you again, Tony.
Yes, a criminal investigation now under way by the 1st Marine Division in Iraq into this incident last Saturday, depicted on videotape by a news crew that was traveling with the Marines. They entered a mosque and found five Iraqi insurgents wounded that had been left there. The circumstances not exactly clear, but let's look at the videotape and see the shooting as it occurs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there Marines in here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they're on the far right, far right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming around the back.
Hey, who's in here?
What (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you doing in here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) got shot by tanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
You guys almost got shot up by tanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told us to come in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tanks did? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They told us there were people in here, and tell us to come in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we had two in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have any weapons on them?
Same guys from yesterday? All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the ones from yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the wounded that they never picked up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) faking he's dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's faking (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Tony, that last noise you hear on the tape is the sound of that gun going off. We are not showing you the actual shooting, of course. That is much to explicit. You hear the bullet go of. The man, the Iraqi insurgent shot in the head. Some very disturbing video, but what it all means remains to be seen. A criminal investigation under way. The Marine involved has been removed from his frontline duty, we are told. He is undergoing questioning.
What investigators will be looking at is to try to determine exactly what this tape does show. Did the Marines feel in that mosque that they were under threat from any of those Iraqi insurgents? Did they pose a threat? And were the Marines acting in self-defense against enemy combatants, or was this possibly a case of a violation of the laws of armed conflict, if you will.
The Marines saying that is what they are looking into. It would be a crime to shoot an unarmed combatant on the field if they pose no threat and they were wounded in a situation where they clearly posed no threat to the Marines. So all of this, very disturbing video, but not terribly clear at this point exactly what the circumstances are -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Barbara. You're right, a lot of questions to be answered here. And when you look at the circumstances here, this is a shooting in a mosque.
This investigation is, of course, important to the military, but the Arab world is watching this as well, and we understand that Arab television is broadcasting these videos unedited. So it is potentially very explosive in the Arab world.
STARR: It is, indeed. There are so many videos, of course, that have emerged from the war in Iraq, hostage videos, combat videos. And as they are shown around the world on various news channels, this is something that concerns the Pentagon, that they often talk to the news media about.
They are concerned about it. One of the concerns about this video in particular is that insurgent groups who may see it may not surrender so readily. They may either be fearful of being shot while trying to surrender, or the feeling by some military people is this type of video may embolden them to fight on to the death even more than they already are. So there's just a lot of concern about these types of pictures getting out.
What we should also tell our viewers, they may have noticed during that video we pixilated, blurred, if you will, the name tags of these Marines. It should be very clear they are not charged with a crime yet, so there is some concern about protecting their privacy well until this investigation is completed -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. We'll see how it al shakes out. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's official. President Bush wants National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice to be the next secretary of state, assuming the Senate approves her. What challenges will rice face in her new post? National Public Radio political editor, Ken Rudin, is in our Washington bureau with, of course, many thoughts on this. Great to see you, Ken.
KEN RUDIN, NPR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's lay it out, pros and cons of Condi Rice.
RUDIN: Well, the pros, of course, is that, unlike Colin Powell, who was more independent from the president perhaps than the president would have liked, Condi Rice is a close Bush adviser, very close to the Bush family, and obviously much more attuned to his way of thinking.
Cons, of course, is that -- is that, you know, you had Colin Powell, who might be able to stand up to President Bush and say, look, you know, this might be wrong, this might be a different way of doing it. But, you know, with a close adviser now, with the attorney general, with Alberto Gonzales, with a close adviser, the secretary of state, you may not have that -- that differing opinion.
PHILLIPS: So let's say you do surround yourself by all these loyalists, all of these individuals that have been your good friend and supporter. Is that healthy? Is that good when you're running a country?
Don't you want people that will get in there like a Colin Powell and challenge you? And you want constructive criticism?
RUDIN: Well, you do want that, but you also -- also don't want battling between the state -- departments of State and Department of Defense, which is basically what you've had for the past four years. I mean, I think some of the reports -- the news reports of the battles between Cheney and Rumsfeld on one side and Powell on the other may have been overdone. But again, it was not the kind of cohesiveness that certainly President Bush wants, somebody who believes in loyalty and a loyal administration.
PHILLIPS: All right. So we talk about a lot of this tension and the shakeup that's going on in the cabinet. And everybody's saying, look, it's not that abnormal, this always happens.
Now, we've heard about this second-term curse. And historically, if you look at past presidents -- we did our research here -- Roosevelt had the court packing plant that sort of bombed in his face; Truman, frustration over Korean War, Eisenhower, the recession and the missile crisis; Nixon, Watergate; Reagan, Iran Contra; Clinton, Monica. I guess I'm curious to think what is going to be President Bush's secretary-term curse.
RUDIN: Well, you know, given the fact that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, I'm not going to predict anything that's going to happen now. But given the fact -- I think what happens is, really, is the president runs out of steam, the administration runs out of steam. The administration gets his top people in the first term, and then after the second -- by the second term, either they want to go out and make more money or they just leave for other opportunities. But by the start of the second term, they really -- they -- either they overreach -- I mean, we're talking about FDR with packing the court in 1938, with Iran Contra, the second Reagan term. There is a sense of overreaching.
But again, I think, you know, President Bush is very instructive, understands history very well. He knows exactly what the past presidents did. From the day he was elected, he knew the mistakes his father made in not getting a second term. So perhaps he'll be more wary than his predecessors were.
PHILLIPS: So you say overreaching, maybe getting a little too aggressive is what sort of causes this curse. Is it that? Is it the president himself that may be making some decisions that are a little too -- well, some have even said cocky, or is it because they've lost members in their cabinet's second term around and maybe didn't have that good of advice like they did the first time?
RUDIN: Well, I mean, every situation is different. When you think of Iran Contra in the Reagan second term, basically Reagan's health had deteriorated in the second term, as we now know.
Eisenhower was getting old, he had heart attacks in his second term. And that was part -- perhaps part of his, you know, successful first term, less successful second term.
So there's really -- really not one guide book to explain why a president falters in a second term. But again, we saw that President Reagan, a lot of his first-term loyalists, his California loyalists left before the second term. And again, he was on less familiar ground going into the second term.
Bush still has plenty of his loyalists. He'll have Condi Rice, he'll have Alberto Gonzales, maybe a successor to Tom Ridge if Tom Ridge leaves Homeland Security. So -- so we'll see what happens in a second term administration.
PHILLIPS: And the Boston Red Sox will still have?
RUDIN: I'm a Yankees fan. I can't talk about this right now. I'm still...
HARRIS: Still in mourning.
PHILLIPS: Ken Rudin, still spending a lot of time in isolation. All right. Read that political junky column.
RUDIN: Please.
PHILLIPS: It's pretty good. Yes, all right.
HARRIS: Did he say "Please?"
PHILLIPS: Yes.
HARRIS: A former pro athlete with a harrowing story to tell. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBIE TALLAS, FMR. VIOXX USER: My arm went numb. My left arm went numb, and then my right arm went numb. And so I turned to my wife and I said, "I think I'm having a heart attack here."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Now he's joining a lawsuit against the makers of Vioxx. That story straight ahead.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rhonda Schaffler in New York. Listen up, online shoppers. There is a new card out there that can protect you from identity theft. Details when LIVE FROM returns right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Did the drugmaker Merck drag its feet in recalling the painkiller Vioxx? A Senate panel hears testimony on the recall Thursday. Today on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," the Merck CEO pointed out it took a while for the potential health risk just to show up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO, MERCK: I think it's important to -- to keep in perspective here that the risks began only after 18 months of continuous use. And as the FDA pointed out in their press release on the day that we announced that we were voluntarily withdrawing the drug, that the risk for any one individual for a heart attack or a stroke was very small. And heart attacks and strokes occur generally throughout the population for a variety of risk factors, and because someone is taking Vioxx doesn't mean that Vioxx caused that event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Among those blaming Vioxx for health problems is a former professional hockey player. CNN's Chris Huntington has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get them back the ball! Come on! Whoa, saved by Tallas!
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robbie Tallas could have been a poster boy for a classic Canadian dream come true. He was a professional hockey player before he was 20, played six years in the NHL. Now Tallas has a better shot of being a poster boy for Vioxx lawsuits. His career came to a frightening halt after a game last December.
TALLAS: I just collapsed and started breathing really loud. And at that point my left arm went numb. My left arm went numb, and then my right arm went numb. So I turned to my wife, and I said, "I think I'm having a heart attack here." HUNTINGTON: Tallas and his doctors could not figure out why a 30- year-old pro athlete in peak condition, who he'd never smoked, never taken steroids, with no family history of heart disease, would have a heart attack. Tallas believes the answer came to him while he and his wife watched a news report about the Vioxx recall.
TALLAS: And all of a sudden, kind of putting the pieces together that there's a connection here.
HUNTINGTON: Merck's own study linked Vioxx to heart attacks in patients who'd taken the drug for more than 18 months. Tallas had taken Vioxx for two-and-a-half years. Sometimes twice a day, for the aches and pains that come from catching hockey pucks for a living.
TALLAS: It worked well on my shoulder. The trainer would come -- start at the back of the bus and make his way to the front, handing out little sample packets of Vioxx to each player.
HUNTINGTON: Tallas and his lawyers now plan to sue Merck, believing that Vioxx led to his heart attack.
STEVE JAFFE, ATTORNEY FOR TALLAS: The only intervening cause that we've come up with in our investigation is two-and-a-half years of consistent daily use of Vioxx.
HUNTINGTON: A recent FDA study found that Vioxx caused nearly 28,000 severe heart attacks, many of them fatal. Merck insists it always disclosed what it knew about the dangers of Vioxx, such as in April 2002, when at the FDA's request, Merck warned doctors that Vioxx's side effects included "serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes."
KEN FRAZIER, MERCK GENERAL COUNSEL: What we did at the time was appropriate given what was actually known about the drug. And I think our communications were fair and balanced based on the available clinical evidence.
HUNTINGTON: But since the warning in 2002, Merck continued to dismiss studies based primarily on methodology that found Vioxx raised the risk of heart disease. That is until Merck scientists came to the same conclusion this fall. And that's when Merck pulled Vioxx off the market.
FRAZIER: We felt that we did the right thing, and as a result we intend to defend ourselves vigorously.
HUNTINGTON (on camera): So far, fewer than 400 Vioxx-related lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 1,000 plaintiffs. But the number of plaintiffs could easily run into the tens of thousands when you consider that, according to Merck, more than 20 million people took Vioxx at some point in the past five years. One of them is a former professional hockey goalie who just wants to get back in the game.
Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Many consumers are weary about using their credit cards online, but one bank wants to do away with cards all together. Rhonda Schaffler joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain how it all works.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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