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Deep Snow, Heavy Ice, Frigid Winds Grip Much of U.S.; U.S. Base Attack; After the Hurricanes

Aired December 23, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, COMMANDER, TASK FORCE OLYMPIA: An individual in an Iraqi military uniform possibly with a vest-worn explosive device was inside the facility and detonate the facility, causing this tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Only on CNN. New details on the Mosul attack on U.S. troops. Catch the full interview with the commander of Task Force Olympia in Mosul.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Will winter's wrath put the holiday on hold? It's a rough ride out there for some holiday travelers stranded on an icy highway.

PHILLIPS: Battle plans in place. Travel along with modern-day gladiators as they head to the big show in search of victory in a team video game competition.

O'BRIEN: Here's a dilemma for some: buy a cute little cloned kitty or a nice sports car. It's the $50,000 question.

From the CNN Center, I'm Miles O'Brien. And I'll take the car, Monty.

PHILLIPS: I definitely won't take the cat. This hour of LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: Interstate 64, holiday travelers zero. That's the score and frigid snow-covered aftermath of the first big storm of the winter. And we can't help but note winter is barely two days old.

Louisville, Kentucky, but just to the west, a long stretch of I- 64 remains frozen in time while drivers who have been stranded almost 24 hours wait for rescue by the National Guard. Parts of the Ohio Valley dealing with a year's worth of snow. That includes Evansville, Indiana, where we find CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The snow may have stopped in southern Indiana, but the travel problems continue. Hundreds of motorists have been stranded along Interstate 64, and 36 counties in southern Indiana have declared a state of emergency. Most of the roads are impassable.

The interstate is closed on 64 from the Illinois-Indiana state line, extending over to the east of Evansville, Indiana. The National Guard has been called out to try and rescue some of those people. But a very unlikely samaritan traveling from St. Louis was able to make a wide path to the other side of the interstate and get plenty of people to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're sitting in their cars, going to run out of gas, 10 hours, and their kids are cold. And, I mean, we do what we had to do, you know, plowing. And it wasn't our intentions, but it's all working out now.

JERAS: Authorities say they don't know when the interstate will open again, but they are making efforts to get the roads cleared. The wind is blowing, howling at times up to 30 miles per hour. And that is adding to the problem with visibility being very poor and blowing and drifting of snow.

I'm Jacqui Jeras, in Evansville, Indiana. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Jacqui's colleague, CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney, has kept the home fires burning. Big picture now where it's nice and warm, in the CNN Weather Center.

Actually, you guys don't have a fireplace up there, do you?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We don't. But it would be nice. Maybe we'll have a little money left over in the budget this year and we can get one.

O'BRIEN: That's easy.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Orelon. Appreciate that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, weather isn't the only travel headline on Christmas Eve eve. "Mud" is a dirty word in Richmond, Virginia, where an American Airlines jet bound for Dallas overdid a turn at the junction of two main runways and sank into a marsh. The passengers got off eventually, but at last word, the plane was still stuck.

Security screeners at airports nationwide are taking less of a hands-on approach to pat-downs today. Procedures that had hundreds, if not thousands, of women flyers up in arms are being modified to be less intrusive, unless a metal detector goes off or there are suspicious lumps or bulges in a passenger's clothing. And that brings us to Honolulu, where a Virginia man is charged today with trying to board an aircraft with a knife in one of his shoes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAYDEN HOOPAI, HAWAII TRAVELER: When I first saw it, I was thinking, wow. I don't know if the boy was young or old, but he was taking a trip with his family to Kauai. I thought that was good for the security to stop because it was under his shoes.

SIDNEY HAYAKAWA, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: I think just the mere concealment of the -- the dangerous weapon itself shows an intent. A normal person, if they forgot a razor blade or a box cutter, would keep it in a normal place, your pocket or your suitcase. But something like this is a no-no.

MARK HATFIELD, TSA SPOKESMAN: Every week we find some of the most bizarre, artfully-concealed weapons, often knives, blades that are hidden either in hollowed-out insoles of people's shoes. Frankly, we found in the last month four different women who had knives hidden in their bras.

We had a woman a couple of weeks ago who had a loaded pistol hidden in a hollowed-out book. So, you know, it's always hard to understand the motives of why these people are carrying weapons like that. The job of the security screeners is not to analyze motives. It's to keep dangerous items off of airplanes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the lawyer for the man stopped in Hawaii says his client didn't know that the blade was even there.

O'BRIEN: News "Across America" now.

In that stolen baby case, a court date set for suspect Lisa Montgomery. Federal prosecutors today say Montgomery's first court appearance is Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri. Montgomery is charged with strangling a pregnant woman then cutting the fetus from her and kidnapping the baby.

A governor's guilt. Former Connecticut Governor John Rowland pleaded guilty today in his corruption case. It was part of a federal plea deal. Rowland's corruption scandal drove him to resign as governor in July.

In Florida, merry festivus. The fake holiday for the TV show "Seinfeld" was honored with a display outside the Pope County building there. The display was erected after the county commission allowed a nativity display to go up.

However, officials plan to remove the festivus display since no one has officially claimed it. And besides, it's about nothing.

And in New York, these people are bowling in an alley that Arafat helped build. Yes, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat invested money in a company that operates bowling alleys in the tri-state area and in Florida and Maryland.

The company says it's returning Arafat's $1.3 million investment. This after Arafat's international investments were released to the public.

PHILLIPS: Turning to Iraq now, Americans hurt in that devastating surprise attack in Mosul are recuperating from wounds. Tuesday's attack at Camp Marez killed 22 people, including 18 Americans. Thirty-five people wounded in that attack are being treated at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. A hospital official says the vast majority of those injured are expected to recover.

The investigation into Tuesday's deadly attack on a U.S. military base in Mosul, Iraq, is now pointing to a suicide bomber who was wearing a military uniform. That revelation from Brigadier General Carter Ham in an interview with CNN's John King on the news from CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: General, help us understand -- and this is the question I'm sure many of these families are asking and many people across America are asking -- how did this happen? How did an apparent suicide bomber get such a weapon on to a U.S. military base? What do you know so far about the investigation?

HAM: Well, John, we don't know exactly how it happened. But we are going to find out.

And there has been an investigation initiated. First, the first part of the investigation started shortly after the incident. And that was to determine what was the nature of the explosion, whether it was indirect fire or some other device.

The forensics experts, the explosives experts determined that in their very best judgment that the explosion that day was caused by a device that was inside of the facility. The question now turns to how did that happen. And I don't know the answer to that question yet.

We are investigating. We will will find out. But as of this moment, we don't know.

What we think is likely but certainly not certain is that an individual in an Iraqi military uniform, possibly with a vest-worn explosive device, was inside the facility and detonated the facility, causing this tragedy. That's preliminary. We'll find out what the truth is and then take necessary actions as we gain more information.

KING: It raises the question, sir, that if there is one infiltrator, there could well be two, three, or more. What steps are you taking to go back and recheck people, whether they be people with Iraqi military uniforms or some of the contractors, the hired hands, if you will, who come in to provide services on the base? What has changed? What are you doing to try to make sure this doesn't happen again?

HAM: John, my highest priority is the protection of our forces. Because if we don't protect our force, we can't accomplish our mission. And so I take that responsibility very, very seriously. Every day, we make assessments based on the intelligence that we have, the threats that we think we are likely to face, and then determine what are the most appropriate measures to take to counter or disrupt those threats. I think we have a good procedure to do that but, clearly, in this instance, I failed to identify some shortcoming that allowed this to occur. That's why we're doing this investigation, to find out where was that seam that these murderers were able to exploit, and so that we can preclude such events in the future and, again, continue our actions to protect our force to the best extent that is possible.

KING: Now, you say a seam was penetrated, sir. Is -- the protocols in place for force protection, is that your policy or a countrywide policy at that particular base?

HAM: As the commander here, it is my personal responsibility for the force protection of the soldiers entrusted to my command and for all those who serve in this sector. There are certainly some command- wide guidelines that are established, and there are some standards that are applied. And we certainly follow those.

But Iraq is such a varied country. And the nature of the insurgency here is so different from area to area, that generally blanket policies are not particularly effective. So we really try to work very, very hard to understand the most dangerous threats that face our soldiers and civilians that are here and then take measures to disrupt that enemy activity and to protect our soldiers.

KING: What are the rules for troops going into that hall for mess, or what were the rules at the time? Would they be required to have their vests on, for example, or at that time of the day do the rules on the base allow them to be in a less secure posture, if you will?

HAM: Well, I wouldn't -- I don't want to get into a lot of specifics. But we do have a series -- we have a series of force protection measures that we take, again, based upon the threat.

It is not at all unusual for soldiers to come in off of a mission, have their body armor on, move to a meal, eat the meal quickly and then move right back out on a mission. So it is not at all unusual to see soldiers with body armor.

There are times when we prescribe that body armor must be worn and helmets must be worn. Again, that's based on the threat. And indeed, there are some times when we close the dining facilities based on threat, which we have done in the past. It is the application of random protective measures, seemingly random protection measures based on the threat as we assess it and my direction of those protective measures that we try to apply to keep our soldiers as safe as we can.

KING: Are you convinced, sir, that this was the work solely of that suicide bomber? There have been some suggestions in people I've talked to that perhaps there was a suicide bomb in the tent, and then knowing that U.S. personnel would come to the area, to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters, that perhaps then some follow-on attacks were mortars from the outside. Any indication of that at all?

HAM: Well, not yet. But that's why we do the investigation, is to get to those particular facts.

It is very difficult to conceive that this would be the act of a lone individual. It would seem to me reasonable to assume that this was a mission, perhaps some time in the planning, days perhaps, that the -- that this particular group and Ansar Al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility.

I have no reason to doubt that. They are a very vicious terrorist organization. So I think it is probably a well-coordinated action rather than the actions of one particular individual.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That was an interview with Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander of Task Force Olympia there in Mosul. We will take you live to the Pentagon in just a few moments.

O'BRIEN: Security is tight. Everyone's on high alert. So how could the attack have happened? Later on LIVE FROM, we'll talk to a soldier who managed bases and facilities in Iraq earlier this year. We'll get some insight from him.

A downbeat Christmas on Fema Street for victims of Hurricane Charley. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More news just into CNN as we continue to following -- follow that bombing that took place in Mosul killing American soldiers. Our Kathleen Koch working the story from the Pentagon.

What did you find out about this suicide bomber? I understand you just checked in with your sources -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Actually, I was able to get a spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq to connect the dots. And this was Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, a spokesman -- the spokesman for the multinational forces.

And he said that right now, the U.S. military does indeed believe that this torso that we have spoken about earlier during the day that was discovered there, they now do believe that that is the remains of the bomber. We had also reported that there was one person yesterday reclassified who had been classified initially as an Iraqi National Guard member and then was classified as a non-U.S. unidentified person. Then we had -- we had Brigadier General Ham just a few minutes ago, Carter Ham, saying on CNN that they believe the bomber was wearing an Iraqi uniform.

So, again, what the spokesman says is that they do believe that this torso was wearing an Iraqi National Guard uniform and is indeed the remains of this suspected bomber. Now, what Colonel Boylan said, though, is that they do not know whether or not this person, the bomber, was actually a member of the Iraqi National Guard because these uniforms are very easily gotten on the black market. They can also be gotten from a person who was a deserter. And we've heard there have been numerous incidents of Iraqi soldiers deserting in battle under fire, and also, they simply could be stolen -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's interesting what you said about the black market. You talk about the black market just for Iraqi National Guard uniforms. But this is a black market that also sells a lot of American uniforms also, right?

KOCH: Indeed. Lieutenant Colonel Boylan verified that. He said you can buy just about anything on the black market in Iraq, including U.S. military uniforms, which at times like this, when we're looking at this uptick in violence leading to the January 30 elections, is a very frightening thought.

Now, another military official who I spoke with -- you know, I was speaking to him and asking, "Well, why can't the Iraqi National Guard let you know whether or not someone is missing so you can determine if this person was a member of the military?" And this other military official says that they simply don't have a tracking system in place like the U.S. military does right now in Iraq. He said not even close.

They're also having problems determing whether or not anyone is missing amongst the Iraqi workforce on the base. A lot of Iraqis worked at Camp Marez doing translating, doing construction work, also even doing cooking and cleaning, though we're told not in this particular mess hall, at least that according to the contractor who provided those services.

But, so we're being told they don't know -- they don't have a stable workforce, Iraqi workforce. It changes from day to day. So they're still not sure if even any members of the Iraqi workforce there are missing -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. It will be interesting to see if there's a paper trail to this suicide bomber. Kathleen Koch live from the Pentagon. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: OK, OK, the list was not exactly all-encompassing. But your rundown of the top naughty and nice celebrities as compiled by Gallup is straight ahead. You may ask why we didn't lead with this.

PHILLIPS: I know you're wondering. This is the thing you're -- wow, Paris Hilton. My goodness.

O'BRIEN: Wow. Just wow.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll take you in their fighting spirits of what some call the arena. Our video game series continues with a look inside the world of competitive gaming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The scars of nature's wrath are evident in Florida months after an unprecedented string of morning hurricanes raked across the state. CNN's John Zarrella revisits one such family preparing for the holidays in lives forever changed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fence and a cow pasture separate the children from the passing cars on Interstate 75. They live on FEMA 12th street, and play on the gravel streets and the shadows of the mobile homes lined up in neat rows. Inside unit 276, Marnie Taylor is doing the dishes. If not for FEMA putting this roof over their heads, Taylor says they'd be homeless.

MARNIE TAYLOR, HURRICANE VICTIM: We're struggling right now. I mean, we're broke. Flat broke.

ZARRELLA: Hurricane Charley took everything they. For the first three months after Charley, Marnie, her husband, Richard, who's disabled...

RICHARD TAYLOR, HURRICANE VICTIM: Come on, big boy. This is mini me.

ZARRELLA: ... and their three children lived in this FEMA- provided travel trailer. Three weeks ago they were relocated here. Little Richie likes this better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Because why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's bigger.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): There are 350 mobile homes housing storm victims on 66 acres outside Punta Gorda. To Marnie, being a storm victim like wearing a scarlet letter.

M. TAYLOR: I have to go into different churches and literally beg them to give me food. It's embarrassing, it's humiliating, it's depressing.

ZARRELLA: The Taylors have done their best to prepare for Christmas. Local groups have donated some gifts for the children. Ashley (ph) wants...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Barbie doll house.

ZARRELLA: The Taylors say there won't be much under the Christmas tree. But the one gift Marnie wants most doesn't come in a box.

M. TAYLOR: I just want some peace, and I can, you know, just relax for a change, instead of always being so uptight, worrying what's going to happen tomorrow. Wish I could just worry about today.

ZARRELLA: Outside, the day is coming to a close. Christmas lights are going up. For the Taylors, and the others here, this is their home for the holidays.

John Zarrella, CNN, Punta Gorda, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired December 23, 2004 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, COMMANDER, TASK FORCE OLYMPIA: An individual in an Iraqi military uniform possibly with a vest-worn explosive device was inside the facility and detonate the facility, causing this tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Only on CNN. New details on the Mosul attack on U.S. troops. Catch the full interview with the commander of Task Force Olympia in Mosul.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Will winter's wrath put the holiday on hold? It's a rough ride out there for some holiday travelers stranded on an icy highway.

PHILLIPS: Battle plans in place. Travel along with modern-day gladiators as they head to the big show in search of victory in a team video game competition.

O'BRIEN: Here's a dilemma for some: buy a cute little cloned kitty or a nice sports car. It's the $50,000 question.

From the CNN Center, I'm Miles O'Brien. And I'll take the car, Monty.

PHILLIPS: I definitely won't take the cat. This hour of LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: Interstate 64, holiday travelers zero. That's the score and frigid snow-covered aftermath of the first big storm of the winter. And we can't help but note winter is barely two days old.

Louisville, Kentucky, but just to the west, a long stretch of I- 64 remains frozen in time while drivers who have been stranded almost 24 hours wait for rescue by the National Guard. Parts of the Ohio Valley dealing with a year's worth of snow. That includes Evansville, Indiana, where we find CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The snow may have stopped in southern Indiana, but the travel problems continue. Hundreds of motorists have been stranded along Interstate 64, and 36 counties in southern Indiana have declared a state of emergency. Most of the roads are impassable.

The interstate is closed on 64 from the Illinois-Indiana state line, extending over to the east of Evansville, Indiana. The National Guard has been called out to try and rescue some of those people. But a very unlikely samaritan traveling from St. Louis was able to make a wide path to the other side of the interstate and get plenty of people to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're sitting in their cars, going to run out of gas, 10 hours, and their kids are cold. And, I mean, we do what we had to do, you know, plowing. And it wasn't our intentions, but it's all working out now.

JERAS: Authorities say they don't know when the interstate will open again, but they are making efforts to get the roads cleared. The wind is blowing, howling at times up to 30 miles per hour. And that is adding to the problem with visibility being very poor and blowing and drifting of snow.

I'm Jacqui Jeras, in Evansville, Indiana. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Jacqui's colleague, CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney, has kept the home fires burning. Big picture now where it's nice and warm, in the CNN Weather Center.

Actually, you guys don't have a fireplace up there, do you?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We don't. But it would be nice. Maybe we'll have a little money left over in the budget this year and we can get one.

O'BRIEN: That's easy.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Orelon. Appreciate that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, weather isn't the only travel headline on Christmas Eve eve. "Mud" is a dirty word in Richmond, Virginia, where an American Airlines jet bound for Dallas overdid a turn at the junction of two main runways and sank into a marsh. The passengers got off eventually, but at last word, the plane was still stuck.

Security screeners at airports nationwide are taking less of a hands-on approach to pat-downs today. Procedures that had hundreds, if not thousands, of women flyers up in arms are being modified to be less intrusive, unless a metal detector goes off or there are suspicious lumps or bulges in a passenger's clothing. And that brings us to Honolulu, where a Virginia man is charged today with trying to board an aircraft with a knife in one of his shoes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAYDEN HOOPAI, HAWAII TRAVELER: When I first saw it, I was thinking, wow. I don't know if the boy was young or old, but he was taking a trip with his family to Kauai. I thought that was good for the security to stop because it was under his shoes.

SIDNEY HAYAKAWA, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: I think just the mere concealment of the -- the dangerous weapon itself shows an intent. A normal person, if they forgot a razor blade or a box cutter, would keep it in a normal place, your pocket or your suitcase. But something like this is a no-no.

MARK HATFIELD, TSA SPOKESMAN: Every week we find some of the most bizarre, artfully-concealed weapons, often knives, blades that are hidden either in hollowed-out insoles of people's shoes. Frankly, we found in the last month four different women who had knives hidden in their bras.

We had a woman a couple of weeks ago who had a loaded pistol hidden in a hollowed-out book. So, you know, it's always hard to understand the motives of why these people are carrying weapons like that. The job of the security screeners is not to analyze motives. It's to keep dangerous items off of airplanes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the lawyer for the man stopped in Hawaii says his client didn't know that the blade was even there.

O'BRIEN: News "Across America" now.

In that stolen baby case, a court date set for suspect Lisa Montgomery. Federal prosecutors today say Montgomery's first court appearance is Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri. Montgomery is charged with strangling a pregnant woman then cutting the fetus from her and kidnapping the baby.

A governor's guilt. Former Connecticut Governor John Rowland pleaded guilty today in his corruption case. It was part of a federal plea deal. Rowland's corruption scandal drove him to resign as governor in July.

In Florida, merry festivus. The fake holiday for the TV show "Seinfeld" was honored with a display outside the Pope County building there. The display was erected after the county commission allowed a nativity display to go up.

However, officials plan to remove the festivus display since no one has officially claimed it. And besides, it's about nothing.

And in New York, these people are bowling in an alley that Arafat helped build. Yes, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat invested money in a company that operates bowling alleys in the tri-state area and in Florida and Maryland.

The company says it's returning Arafat's $1.3 million investment. This after Arafat's international investments were released to the public.

PHILLIPS: Turning to Iraq now, Americans hurt in that devastating surprise attack in Mosul are recuperating from wounds. Tuesday's attack at Camp Marez killed 22 people, including 18 Americans. Thirty-five people wounded in that attack are being treated at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. A hospital official says the vast majority of those injured are expected to recover.

The investigation into Tuesday's deadly attack on a U.S. military base in Mosul, Iraq, is now pointing to a suicide bomber who was wearing a military uniform. That revelation from Brigadier General Carter Ham in an interview with CNN's John King on the news from CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: General, help us understand -- and this is the question I'm sure many of these families are asking and many people across America are asking -- how did this happen? How did an apparent suicide bomber get such a weapon on to a U.S. military base? What do you know so far about the investigation?

HAM: Well, John, we don't know exactly how it happened. But we are going to find out.

And there has been an investigation initiated. First, the first part of the investigation started shortly after the incident. And that was to determine what was the nature of the explosion, whether it was indirect fire or some other device.

The forensics experts, the explosives experts determined that in their very best judgment that the explosion that day was caused by a device that was inside of the facility. The question now turns to how did that happen. And I don't know the answer to that question yet.

We are investigating. We will will find out. But as of this moment, we don't know.

What we think is likely but certainly not certain is that an individual in an Iraqi military uniform, possibly with a vest-worn explosive device, was inside the facility and detonated the facility, causing this tragedy. That's preliminary. We'll find out what the truth is and then take necessary actions as we gain more information.

KING: It raises the question, sir, that if there is one infiltrator, there could well be two, three, or more. What steps are you taking to go back and recheck people, whether they be people with Iraqi military uniforms or some of the contractors, the hired hands, if you will, who come in to provide services on the base? What has changed? What are you doing to try to make sure this doesn't happen again?

HAM: John, my highest priority is the protection of our forces. Because if we don't protect our force, we can't accomplish our mission. And so I take that responsibility very, very seriously. Every day, we make assessments based on the intelligence that we have, the threats that we think we are likely to face, and then determine what are the most appropriate measures to take to counter or disrupt those threats. I think we have a good procedure to do that but, clearly, in this instance, I failed to identify some shortcoming that allowed this to occur. That's why we're doing this investigation, to find out where was that seam that these murderers were able to exploit, and so that we can preclude such events in the future and, again, continue our actions to protect our force to the best extent that is possible.

KING: Now, you say a seam was penetrated, sir. Is -- the protocols in place for force protection, is that your policy or a countrywide policy at that particular base?

HAM: As the commander here, it is my personal responsibility for the force protection of the soldiers entrusted to my command and for all those who serve in this sector. There are certainly some command- wide guidelines that are established, and there are some standards that are applied. And we certainly follow those.

But Iraq is such a varied country. And the nature of the insurgency here is so different from area to area, that generally blanket policies are not particularly effective. So we really try to work very, very hard to understand the most dangerous threats that face our soldiers and civilians that are here and then take measures to disrupt that enemy activity and to protect our soldiers.

KING: What are the rules for troops going into that hall for mess, or what were the rules at the time? Would they be required to have their vests on, for example, or at that time of the day do the rules on the base allow them to be in a less secure posture, if you will?

HAM: Well, I wouldn't -- I don't want to get into a lot of specifics. But we do have a series -- we have a series of force protection measures that we take, again, based upon the threat.

It is not at all unusual for soldiers to come in off of a mission, have their body armor on, move to a meal, eat the meal quickly and then move right back out on a mission. So it is not at all unusual to see soldiers with body armor.

There are times when we prescribe that body armor must be worn and helmets must be worn. Again, that's based on the threat. And indeed, there are some times when we close the dining facilities based on threat, which we have done in the past. It is the application of random protective measures, seemingly random protection measures based on the threat as we assess it and my direction of those protective measures that we try to apply to keep our soldiers as safe as we can.

KING: Are you convinced, sir, that this was the work solely of that suicide bomber? There have been some suggestions in people I've talked to that perhaps there was a suicide bomb in the tent, and then knowing that U.S. personnel would come to the area, to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters, that perhaps then some follow-on attacks were mortars from the outside. Any indication of that at all?

HAM: Well, not yet. But that's why we do the investigation, is to get to those particular facts.

It is very difficult to conceive that this would be the act of a lone individual. It would seem to me reasonable to assume that this was a mission, perhaps some time in the planning, days perhaps, that the -- that this particular group and Ansar Al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility.

I have no reason to doubt that. They are a very vicious terrorist organization. So I think it is probably a well-coordinated action rather than the actions of one particular individual.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That was an interview with Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander of Task Force Olympia there in Mosul. We will take you live to the Pentagon in just a few moments.

O'BRIEN: Security is tight. Everyone's on high alert. So how could the attack have happened? Later on LIVE FROM, we'll talk to a soldier who managed bases and facilities in Iraq earlier this year. We'll get some insight from him.

A downbeat Christmas on Fema Street for victims of Hurricane Charley. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More news just into CNN as we continue to following -- follow that bombing that took place in Mosul killing American soldiers. Our Kathleen Koch working the story from the Pentagon.

What did you find out about this suicide bomber? I understand you just checked in with your sources -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Actually, I was able to get a spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq to connect the dots. And this was Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, a spokesman -- the spokesman for the multinational forces.

And he said that right now, the U.S. military does indeed believe that this torso that we have spoken about earlier during the day that was discovered there, they now do believe that that is the remains of the bomber. We had also reported that there was one person yesterday reclassified who had been classified initially as an Iraqi National Guard member and then was classified as a non-U.S. unidentified person. Then we had -- we had Brigadier General Ham just a few minutes ago, Carter Ham, saying on CNN that they believe the bomber was wearing an Iraqi uniform.

So, again, what the spokesman says is that they do believe that this torso was wearing an Iraqi National Guard uniform and is indeed the remains of this suspected bomber. Now, what Colonel Boylan said, though, is that they do not know whether or not this person, the bomber, was actually a member of the Iraqi National Guard because these uniforms are very easily gotten on the black market. They can also be gotten from a person who was a deserter. And we've heard there have been numerous incidents of Iraqi soldiers deserting in battle under fire, and also, they simply could be stolen -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's interesting what you said about the black market. You talk about the black market just for Iraqi National Guard uniforms. But this is a black market that also sells a lot of American uniforms also, right?

KOCH: Indeed. Lieutenant Colonel Boylan verified that. He said you can buy just about anything on the black market in Iraq, including U.S. military uniforms, which at times like this, when we're looking at this uptick in violence leading to the January 30 elections, is a very frightening thought.

Now, another military official who I spoke with -- you know, I was speaking to him and asking, "Well, why can't the Iraqi National Guard let you know whether or not someone is missing so you can determine if this person was a member of the military?" And this other military official says that they simply don't have a tracking system in place like the U.S. military does right now in Iraq. He said not even close.

They're also having problems determing whether or not anyone is missing amongst the Iraqi workforce on the base. A lot of Iraqis worked at Camp Marez doing translating, doing construction work, also even doing cooking and cleaning, though we're told not in this particular mess hall, at least that according to the contractor who provided those services.

But, so we're being told they don't know -- they don't have a stable workforce, Iraqi workforce. It changes from day to day. So they're still not sure if even any members of the Iraqi workforce there are missing -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. It will be interesting to see if there's a paper trail to this suicide bomber. Kathleen Koch live from the Pentagon. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: OK, OK, the list was not exactly all-encompassing. But your rundown of the top naughty and nice celebrities as compiled by Gallup is straight ahead. You may ask why we didn't lead with this.

PHILLIPS: I know you're wondering. This is the thing you're -- wow, Paris Hilton. My goodness.

O'BRIEN: Wow. Just wow.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll take you in their fighting spirits of what some call the arena. Our video game series continues with a look inside the world of competitive gaming.

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O'BRIEN: The scars of nature's wrath are evident in Florida months after an unprecedented string of morning hurricanes raked across the state. CNN's John Zarrella revisits one such family preparing for the holidays in lives forever changed.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fence and a cow pasture separate the children from the passing cars on Interstate 75. They live on FEMA 12th street, and play on the gravel streets and the shadows of the mobile homes lined up in neat rows. Inside unit 276, Marnie Taylor is doing the dishes. If not for FEMA putting this roof over their heads, Taylor says they'd be homeless.

MARNIE TAYLOR, HURRICANE VICTIM: We're struggling right now. I mean, we're broke. Flat broke.

ZARRELLA: Hurricane Charley took everything they. For the first three months after Charley, Marnie, her husband, Richard, who's disabled...

RICHARD TAYLOR, HURRICANE VICTIM: Come on, big boy. This is mini me.

ZARRELLA: ... and their three children lived in this FEMA- provided travel trailer. Three weeks ago they were relocated here. Little Richie likes this better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Because why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's bigger.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): There are 350 mobile homes housing storm victims on 66 acres outside Punta Gorda. To Marnie, being a storm victim like wearing a scarlet letter.

M. TAYLOR: I have to go into different churches and literally beg them to give me food. It's embarrassing, it's humiliating, it's depressing.

ZARRELLA: The Taylors have done their best to prepare for Christmas. Local groups have donated some gifts for the children. Ashley (ph) wants...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Barbie doll house.

ZARRELLA: The Taylors say there won't be much under the Christmas tree. But the one gift Marnie wants most doesn't come in a box.

M. TAYLOR: I just want some peace, and I can, you know, just relax for a change, instead of always being so uptight, worrying what's going to happen tomorrow. Wish I could just worry about today.

ZARRELLA: Outside, the day is coming to a close. Christmas lights are going up. For the Taylors, and the others here, this is their home for the holidays.

John Zarrella, CNN, Punta Gorda, Florida.

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