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Iraqis Celebrate Successful Elections; Military Expert: Insurgent Missile Videotape Probably Fake; Michael Jackson Jury Selection Begins
Aired January 31, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Did an insurgent missile bring down a coalition plane in Iraq? Al Jazeera Television airs this new video from a group claiming it shot that plane out of the sky.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: Counting the vote in Iraq. This hour, what those ballots could mean for the future of Iraq and for Americans troops putting their lives on the line there.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael Jackson is in court. More than 1,000 members of the media on hand. I'm Sean Callebs in Santa Maria. We'll have the latest on day one of a trial that could last up to half a year.
PHILLIPS: From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris in for Miles O'Brien. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
PHILLIPS: The votes are in, the tallies in progress. A new phase in history is beginning, so says Iraq's soon to be former prime minister, a day after millions of Iraqis took part in that nation's first free elections in half a century.
Results won't be known for days, but turnout apparently was high, higher than expected in Sunni areas. And violence, though widespread and deadly, could have been worse. Going in, insurgents vowed to wash the streets with voters' blood.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour is watching developments now in Baghdad -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the big story was the voters turned out, and the insurgents did not derail or sabotage this election, despite some violence that did kill about 40 people.
Right now, the votes are still being tallied. They came from the centers to Baghdad and the final votes we understand, the final results, we won't know for the next week or 10 days.
But already, those who stand to gain the most, the Shiites, are already celebrating. In one of the slum parts of Baghdad, which has been all along a Shiite stronghold, Sadr City, people were dancing in the streets and waving the portraits of their spiritual leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Now, many are saying that the real credit, the real architect of these elections was, in fact, Sistani, because he is the one who never wavered and who insisted from day one that Iraq should have a one- person, one-vote election.
If you remember, at the U.S. occupation authority back a year or more ago under Paul Bremer, had wanted and had mapped out a plan for regional caucuses. And those caucuses were then going to elect the national assembly.
Sistani said, no, everyone has to have a vote. And that is, in fact, what happened yesterday. And the Sistani party does stand to gain perhaps the biggest share of the vote.
Now this is something that is causing a few tremors in some of the countries around Iraq, most notably U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, who don't really want to see a so-called Shiite crescent developing in Iraq and joining up with Iran, at least spiritually, not physically joining up but having that same kind of theocratic ideology.
We asked today King Abdullah in an exclusive interview to respond to some concerns that he had. He brought them to the United States, to Washington.
And one U.S. top official from the State Department was quoted in "The New York Times" over the weekend as dismissing King Abdullah's concerns as, quote, racist, anti-Shiite paranoia. I asked Abdullah about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: If you know anything about the hash (ph) of my kingdom and our family's history, you'll know that we have a very special affinity and a very warm place in our hearts for all Shia.
When I made my statements about our concern of Shias in Iraq, I was addressing the political background of that, not the religious one. As being a descendent of the prophet, as being what we call part of al Albate (ph), we have a very warm and very special relationship with Shias, not only in Iraq but also in Iran and elsewhere throughout the Islamic world.
What we were concerned about was the political aspects that, you know, we want Iraq for Iraqis and not for anybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: And the king, when I pressed him, indicated that that kind of comment from the State Department, if it turns out to be true, was less than diplomatic.
He did go on, also, to say that the democracy that's starting here in Iraq would be -- would have a knock-on effect, or at least an effect in the Middle East. He said in the Arab world, reform was sort of starting. The door was open, he said, and there was no closing it now, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Christiane, you talk about everybody having the chance to vote. You focused a lot on women's rights. You even focused on a female candidate, Basham Asheem al-Hilia (ph). I hope I'm saying her name right.
Have you had a chance to talk to her, any of the other female candidates? And what did you think about the turnout with regard to women voting?
AMANPOUR: Do you know, I haven't had a chance yet? But it's a good - it's a good question, and I will call her.
But we did see a lot of women turning out. A lot. There were women at all the polling stations where our reporters were. Obviously there were many, many women in the Shiite stronghold of Basra.
There was a poll taken before the election in the Iraqi media. And women specifically were asked whether they would vote. And in Shiite areas, they basically, almost 100 percent, said that they would vote. And that's what we did see.
And of course, in this part of the world, men went through one line to be checked. Women went through another line to have their -- you know, their bodies checked so that they weren't security suspects.
But then they got into those voting rooms together, and they cast their ballots. And we did see a lot of women out there.
PHILLIPS: Good to report, Christiane Amanpour. Thanks so much -- Tony.
HARRIS: You were talking about turnout. Well, almost 94 percent of Iraqi expatriates who'd registered to vote in 14 countries cast ballots.
Granted conditions abroad were generally much more suitable, with three days allotted for voting instead of one, and virtually no risk of insurgent attacks. Still, the gratifying turnout is a percentage of Iraqis who registered, not those who were eligible. Less than a quarter of Iraqi expats who could have taken part in the process did.
For all the drama, this election is one step along a long road. The new assembly has until August 15 to draft a new Iraqi constitution. Sometime in October, the constitution goes before the people in a nationwide up or down referendum. If it is approved, another election in December for a permanent government. If not, the whole process starts again.
PHILLIPS: Two claims of responsibility but no hard conclusions in the wake of yesterday's deadly crash of a British C-130 just north of Baghdad. The transport plane named Hercules carried 10 British personnel, all of whom are missing and presumed dead.
Today one of that -- one of the groups is claiming responsibility, showing some videos. CNN military analyst Don Shepperd now tells us not to believe everything we see. I guess that type of aircraft is called a Hercules. I should make that point. But looking at this video, first of all, what do you observe from the missile, the direction it's taking, how its been launched?
DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: First of all, it's not a heat seeking missile. It does not cruise second (ph). It looks like a surface to air missile, but a surface to air missile has to be combined with radars, both tracking radars and also search radars, if you will.
The ability of a terrorist organization to get radars and fire radar-guided missiles, in my opinion, is just not there. I think part of this tape is phony, the first part. The last part could indeed be the crash site. It's consistent.
PHILLIPS: We're talking more about the missile in a moment, but now that we're looking at the wreckage, now you believe that video we were just looking at of the wreckage is real?
SHEPPERD: I do. And the thing is that I noticed an engine there that looks like an engine off a K model C-130, consistent with what the British fly. I noticed a lander that's consistent with transport type airplanes. I noticed the portion of a tail that looked like a C- 130 tail, and I noticed a portion of a wing root (ph) that looked like a C-130 ring root (ph). So it could indeed be the crash site.
PHILLIPS: All right, so back to the missile. We look at direction that it's taking. It's not taking on a cork shoe -- a corkscrew-type of direction. Now the box, we're actually looking at the wreckage. This is what you were talking to. But let's talk about the box, this box here.
SHEPPERD: That box looks phony.
PHILLIPS: OK. Why?
SHEPPERD: That looks like an IED device. It's nothing that fires a missile, either shoulder fired or -- or a radar-guided missile. It looks like what they use to fire IEDs. They connect them to long cords and then blow up artillery rounds that are placed next to road to destroy vehicles. This looks phony to me.
PHILLIPS: And just the way it's put together. You've got the hand pushing the button. Then all of a sudden you have -- it's like it was a movie produced.
SHEPPERD: Yes. Indeed. Indeed. And again, the key to me is it -- these airplanes over there use tactics. They go over the airfield at high altitude, and they corkscrew down and they land. Now I'm not saying...
PHILLIPS: You're talking about every aircraft that comes in to land at the airport, they've got to come in at high altitude.
SHEPPERD: Yes, to stay out of the range of shoulder-fired missiles.
PHILLIPS: And the plane itself has to corkscrew down.
SHEPPERD: And then they corkscrew down at 360-degree turns...
PHILLIPS: Sure.
SHEPPERD: ... making a short final approach. This was not a shoulder-fired missile, again, because it did not corkscrew like a shoulder-fired missile does.
So again, it's not impossible they could have brought it down. But they clear the areas within about three miles of an airport. They patrol them all of the time. So we really want to find out what brought this airplane down and see if there's something we need to do to revise our tactics or there's something we don't know that they have.
PHILLIPS: What do we know about the investigation so far? Is weather involved? Is -- you know, could it be mechanical? Have you heard anything?
SHEPPERD: No. It was good weather. It could be mechanical. It also could be something inside the airplane. We carry dangerous stuff in the airplanes over there. We carry fuel sometimes. We carry ammunition. All those things will be looked at. It will take about 30 days before they know.
PHILLIPS: And the C-130, you're talking about things that can -- also can take a lot of personnel.
SHEPPERD: It can. In this case, evidently, it was not. There were about 10 people -- 10 deaths have been reported, nine RAF and one, a British soldier. So it didn't carry a lot of people, thank goodness, is our conclusion now, at least.
PHILLIPS: All right. General Don Shepperd, thank you so much.
SHEPPERD: Thank you.
HARRIS: Remember the CPA? We're talking Coalition Provisional Authority, not certified public accountant. And you know, that's kind of the problem here.
A new audit finds the former U.S. civilian administration in Iraq can't account for almost $9 billion earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction. It wasn't U.S. taxpayer money but Iraqi proceeds from oil sales and seized accounts.
Now U.S. auditors cite inefficiencies and poor management on the part of the CPA, which faded into history when Iraqis regained sovereignty last summer. The Pentagon says it disagrees with the audit's conclusions.
PHILLIPS: A murder defendant says prescription drugs drove him to kill. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It drove him out of his mind. It put him out of touch with reality. It made him hear voices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Coming up on LIVE FROM, a teenager on trial uses the anti-depressant defense.
Judging Jackson. The pop star goes to court. His lawyers try to find 12 people to judge him on child molestation charges. We're live from Santa Maria.
And, hey, you want to get beautified? "Queer Eye's for the Straight Guy" Ken Douglas joins us, sharing his secrets for women and men that want to look great and feel fabulous. Can you guess which one he is?
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: This just in to CNN. The Associated Press and a Buffalo radio station are reporting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is being taken to a hospital after collapsing while delivering a speech at a local chamber of commerce. This was at the Saturn Club in Buffalo. It is a private club in the Buffalo area.
Once again, a Buffalo radio station and the Associated Press are reporting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is being taken to the hospital after collapsing while delivering a speech to a local chamber of commerce.
We'll, of course, continue to follow this story and bring you updates as we get additional information. More LIVE FROM after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: To the screams of excited fans. You can hear it in the background now.
CNN's Sean Callebs is following it all from Santa Maria.
Hi, Sean.
CALLEBS: Indeed, Tony. How about that? The spectacle it is, the trial involving Michael Jackson under way here in California. The first step, initial process of jury selection.
Now Jackson and his entourage arrived here about an hour and 15 minutes ago, just five minutes before the court proceedings were scheduled to begin. They bailed out of a couple of black SUVs. Jackson, dressed in white from head to toe, turned and waved to the throng of fans here. And yes, there are a lot of fans here, some from as far as way as Sweden and France.
We couldn't tell if he was wearing an armband. And that is significant, because the prosecution has complained that in the past Jackson has come to court wearing armbands with biblical references or the numbers "777" on them.
Jackson stands accused, among other things, of four counts of child molestation, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent. If convicted, he could receive more than 20 years in prison.
Now Jackson and his attorneys have been highly critical of information, news leaks that have come out ahead of the trial. And just recently Jackson issued a statement on his web site that was approved by the judge critical of all this pre-trial publicity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL JACKSON, ACCUSED OF CHILD MOLESTATION: Years ago I allowed a family to visit and spend some time at Neverland. Neverland is my home. I allowed this family into my home because they told me their son was ill with cancer and needed my help. Through the years I have helped thousands of children who were ill or in distress.
These events have caused a nightmare for my family, my children and me. I never intend to place myself in so vulnerable a position ever again. I love my community, and I have great faith in our justice system. Please keep an open mind and let me have my day in court. I deserve a fair trial like every other American citizen. I will be acquitted and vindicated when the truth is told. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: The alleged abuse took -- allegedly took place at Jackson's sprawling Neverland Ranch not terribly far from here, involving, as you mentioned, a 13-year-old cancer patient. This dates back to 2003, back in February and March of 2003.
Now, Judge Rodney Melville, the judge in this case, has set a somewhat ambitious schedule for trying to find 12 members of a jury and eight alternates. They plan to go through about 300 people a day: 150 in the morning, 150 in the afternoon. And they're going to excuse those who could not take place due to hardship, and they hope to be able to go through some 750 in the next 2 1/2 days.
Those who are selected must fill out a seven-page questionnaire. Then on Thursday and Friday, Tony, the lawyers will begin going over all those questionnaires, and the initial process of trying to find 12 people to hear the case involving Michael Jackson.
HARRIS: Sean, a couple of questions. A couple of things come to mind. Santa Barbara County, maybe describe that for us, who lives there as we try to get a handle on the jury pool.
CALLEBS: It's a good question, because this actually came up during the grand jury investigation. Jackson's attorneys were critical, because only about two percent of the population here are African-American, and that that time his lawyers alleged that blacks and Hispanics -- and Hispanics make up a pretty good share of the population here -- were systematically excluded from the grand jury process.
Now, since that has happened, Jackson's attorneys said they've been fairly pleased with the fact the trial will be held here. Jackson's lived here for more than a decade. He has over the years employed hundreds of people at his Neverland Ranch. For the most part, he's had a pretty good relationship with this area.
Also, the attorneys like the fact this is a conservative area, one that would lend a somewhat disparaging eye on someone perceived as trying to make a big profit in some kind of trial. So that's one thing that his attorneys are certainly clinging to.
HARRIS: And you will be there watching it all. Sean Callebs, we appreciate it. Thank you.
CALLEBS: Back to you.
HARRIS: We're going to take a break. But when we come back we will update the story of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. As we told you just a couple of minutes ago, the Associated Press, and now CNN, is reporting that the senator collapsed while giving a speech before the Saturn Club, a private chamber of commerce in the Buffalo area.
More LIVE FROM after this, including that update.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is cold, brutal as act as I've witnessed in 25 years of prosecuting.
PHILLIPS: A 12-year-old shoots his grandparents while they sleep. His lawyer blames a prescribed anti-depressant.
Later on LIVE FROM, the flu season strikes the Vatican. Pope John Paul II cancels public appearances. How is the ailing pontiff doing? We're LIVE FROM Rome.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, calling the plays in the NFL. Is a rule requiring teams to interview minorities for coaching jobs helping or hurting them?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More on a story we've been bringing to you within the past five minutes or so. And that is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton collapsing during a speech she was giving in Buffalo.
Our Deb Feyerick working the story there from New York.
What do we know, Deb?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this is what we know so far.
Senator Clinton originally told this crowd that she was speaking to that she was really not feeling well, that she was feeling weak, that she had a stomach virus. And just as she started to speak, all of a sudden she collapsed.
Now, someone close to the senator, we are learning, who was not traveling with her, but that person who is close to the senator tells CNN that this was a 24-hour bug. She was not taken to the hospital as was originally reported. The source telling CNN that really all she needed was just to sit down.
Now the source also says that she really does plan to keep with her schedule this afternoon. She's scheduled to speak at a Catholic college later this afternoon. There were protests that were planned there, even though she was talking not about pro-choice but about health care. There were protests schedule there had right now.
Right now her office saying that she does plan on going through with that. But again, this was just a 24-hour flu, according to sources that we're talking to. She wasn't feeling well. All she needed was to sit down, that according to someone close to her -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Deb Feyerick, live from New York. Thank you so much. We'll continue to check in with you as you get more information on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's, her condition after collapsing during a speech.
HARRIS: To business news now, AT&T, a company with a glorious history dating back to the invention of the telephone, is being bought out by one of its former units.
Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with that story.
Hi, Susan.
(STOCK REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 31, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Did an insurgent missile bring down a coalition plane in Iraq? Al Jazeera Television airs this new video from a group claiming it shot that plane out of the sky.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: Counting the vote in Iraq. This hour, what those ballots could mean for the future of Iraq and for Americans troops putting their lives on the line there.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael Jackson is in court. More than 1,000 members of the media on hand. I'm Sean Callebs in Santa Maria. We'll have the latest on day one of a trial that could last up to half a year.
PHILLIPS: From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris in for Miles O'Brien. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
PHILLIPS: The votes are in, the tallies in progress. A new phase in history is beginning, so says Iraq's soon to be former prime minister, a day after millions of Iraqis took part in that nation's first free elections in half a century.
Results won't be known for days, but turnout apparently was high, higher than expected in Sunni areas. And violence, though widespread and deadly, could have been worse. Going in, insurgents vowed to wash the streets with voters' blood.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour is watching developments now in Baghdad -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the big story was the voters turned out, and the insurgents did not derail or sabotage this election, despite some violence that did kill about 40 people.
Right now, the votes are still being tallied. They came from the centers to Baghdad and the final votes we understand, the final results, we won't know for the next week or 10 days.
But already, those who stand to gain the most, the Shiites, are already celebrating. In one of the slum parts of Baghdad, which has been all along a Shiite stronghold, Sadr City, people were dancing in the streets and waving the portraits of their spiritual leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Now, many are saying that the real credit, the real architect of these elections was, in fact, Sistani, because he is the one who never wavered and who insisted from day one that Iraq should have a one- person, one-vote election.
If you remember, at the U.S. occupation authority back a year or more ago under Paul Bremer, had wanted and had mapped out a plan for regional caucuses. And those caucuses were then going to elect the national assembly.
Sistani said, no, everyone has to have a vote. And that is, in fact, what happened yesterday. And the Sistani party does stand to gain perhaps the biggest share of the vote.
Now this is something that is causing a few tremors in some of the countries around Iraq, most notably U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, who don't really want to see a so-called Shiite crescent developing in Iraq and joining up with Iran, at least spiritually, not physically joining up but having that same kind of theocratic ideology.
We asked today King Abdullah in an exclusive interview to respond to some concerns that he had. He brought them to the United States, to Washington.
And one U.S. top official from the State Department was quoted in "The New York Times" over the weekend as dismissing King Abdullah's concerns as, quote, racist, anti-Shiite paranoia. I asked Abdullah about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: If you know anything about the hash (ph) of my kingdom and our family's history, you'll know that we have a very special affinity and a very warm place in our hearts for all Shia.
When I made my statements about our concern of Shias in Iraq, I was addressing the political background of that, not the religious one. As being a descendent of the prophet, as being what we call part of al Albate (ph), we have a very warm and very special relationship with Shias, not only in Iraq but also in Iran and elsewhere throughout the Islamic world.
What we were concerned about was the political aspects that, you know, we want Iraq for Iraqis and not for anybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: And the king, when I pressed him, indicated that that kind of comment from the State Department, if it turns out to be true, was less than diplomatic.
He did go on, also, to say that the democracy that's starting here in Iraq would be -- would have a knock-on effect, or at least an effect in the Middle East. He said in the Arab world, reform was sort of starting. The door was open, he said, and there was no closing it now, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Christiane, you talk about everybody having the chance to vote. You focused a lot on women's rights. You even focused on a female candidate, Basham Asheem al-Hilia (ph). I hope I'm saying her name right.
Have you had a chance to talk to her, any of the other female candidates? And what did you think about the turnout with regard to women voting?
AMANPOUR: Do you know, I haven't had a chance yet? But it's a good - it's a good question, and I will call her.
But we did see a lot of women turning out. A lot. There were women at all the polling stations where our reporters were. Obviously there were many, many women in the Shiite stronghold of Basra.
There was a poll taken before the election in the Iraqi media. And women specifically were asked whether they would vote. And in Shiite areas, they basically, almost 100 percent, said that they would vote. And that's what we did see.
And of course, in this part of the world, men went through one line to be checked. Women went through another line to have their -- you know, their bodies checked so that they weren't security suspects.
But then they got into those voting rooms together, and they cast their ballots. And we did see a lot of women out there.
PHILLIPS: Good to report, Christiane Amanpour. Thanks so much -- Tony.
HARRIS: You were talking about turnout. Well, almost 94 percent of Iraqi expatriates who'd registered to vote in 14 countries cast ballots.
Granted conditions abroad were generally much more suitable, with three days allotted for voting instead of one, and virtually no risk of insurgent attacks. Still, the gratifying turnout is a percentage of Iraqis who registered, not those who were eligible. Less than a quarter of Iraqi expats who could have taken part in the process did.
For all the drama, this election is one step along a long road. The new assembly has until August 15 to draft a new Iraqi constitution. Sometime in October, the constitution goes before the people in a nationwide up or down referendum. If it is approved, another election in December for a permanent government. If not, the whole process starts again.
PHILLIPS: Two claims of responsibility but no hard conclusions in the wake of yesterday's deadly crash of a British C-130 just north of Baghdad. The transport plane named Hercules carried 10 British personnel, all of whom are missing and presumed dead.
Today one of that -- one of the groups is claiming responsibility, showing some videos. CNN military analyst Don Shepperd now tells us not to believe everything we see. I guess that type of aircraft is called a Hercules. I should make that point. But looking at this video, first of all, what do you observe from the missile, the direction it's taking, how its been launched?
DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: First of all, it's not a heat seeking missile. It does not cruise second (ph). It looks like a surface to air missile, but a surface to air missile has to be combined with radars, both tracking radars and also search radars, if you will.
The ability of a terrorist organization to get radars and fire radar-guided missiles, in my opinion, is just not there. I think part of this tape is phony, the first part. The last part could indeed be the crash site. It's consistent.
PHILLIPS: We're talking more about the missile in a moment, but now that we're looking at the wreckage, now you believe that video we were just looking at of the wreckage is real?
SHEPPERD: I do. And the thing is that I noticed an engine there that looks like an engine off a K model C-130, consistent with what the British fly. I noticed a lander that's consistent with transport type airplanes. I noticed the portion of a tail that looked like a C- 130 tail, and I noticed a portion of a wing root (ph) that looked like a C-130 ring root (ph). So it could indeed be the crash site.
PHILLIPS: All right, so back to the missile. We look at direction that it's taking. It's not taking on a cork shoe -- a corkscrew-type of direction. Now the box, we're actually looking at the wreckage. This is what you were talking to. But let's talk about the box, this box here.
SHEPPERD: That box looks phony.
PHILLIPS: OK. Why?
SHEPPERD: That looks like an IED device. It's nothing that fires a missile, either shoulder fired or -- or a radar-guided missile. It looks like what they use to fire IEDs. They connect them to long cords and then blow up artillery rounds that are placed next to road to destroy vehicles. This looks phony to me.
PHILLIPS: And just the way it's put together. You've got the hand pushing the button. Then all of a sudden you have -- it's like it was a movie produced.
SHEPPERD: Yes. Indeed. Indeed. And again, the key to me is it -- these airplanes over there use tactics. They go over the airfield at high altitude, and they corkscrew down and they land. Now I'm not saying...
PHILLIPS: You're talking about every aircraft that comes in to land at the airport, they've got to come in at high altitude.
SHEPPERD: Yes, to stay out of the range of shoulder-fired missiles.
PHILLIPS: And the plane itself has to corkscrew down.
SHEPPERD: And then they corkscrew down at 360-degree turns...
PHILLIPS: Sure.
SHEPPERD: ... making a short final approach. This was not a shoulder-fired missile, again, because it did not corkscrew like a shoulder-fired missile does.
So again, it's not impossible they could have brought it down. But they clear the areas within about three miles of an airport. They patrol them all of the time. So we really want to find out what brought this airplane down and see if there's something we need to do to revise our tactics or there's something we don't know that they have.
PHILLIPS: What do we know about the investigation so far? Is weather involved? Is -- you know, could it be mechanical? Have you heard anything?
SHEPPERD: No. It was good weather. It could be mechanical. It also could be something inside the airplane. We carry dangerous stuff in the airplanes over there. We carry fuel sometimes. We carry ammunition. All those things will be looked at. It will take about 30 days before they know.
PHILLIPS: And the C-130, you're talking about things that can -- also can take a lot of personnel.
SHEPPERD: It can. In this case, evidently, it was not. There were about 10 people -- 10 deaths have been reported, nine RAF and one, a British soldier. So it didn't carry a lot of people, thank goodness, is our conclusion now, at least.
PHILLIPS: All right. General Don Shepperd, thank you so much.
SHEPPERD: Thank you.
HARRIS: Remember the CPA? We're talking Coalition Provisional Authority, not certified public accountant. And you know, that's kind of the problem here.
A new audit finds the former U.S. civilian administration in Iraq can't account for almost $9 billion earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction. It wasn't U.S. taxpayer money but Iraqi proceeds from oil sales and seized accounts.
Now U.S. auditors cite inefficiencies and poor management on the part of the CPA, which faded into history when Iraqis regained sovereignty last summer. The Pentagon says it disagrees with the audit's conclusions.
PHILLIPS: A murder defendant says prescription drugs drove him to kill. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It drove him out of his mind. It put him out of touch with reality. It made him hear voices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Coming up on LIVE FROM, a teenager on trial uses the anti-depressant defense.
Judging Jackson. The pop star goes to court. His lawyers try to find 12 people to judge him on child molestation charges. We're live from Santa Maria.
And, hey, you want to get beautified? "Queer Eye's for the Straight Guy" Ken Douglas joins us, sharing his secrets for women and men that want to look great and feel fabulous. Can you guess which one he is?
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HARRIS: This just in to CNN. The Associated Press and a Buffalo radio station are reporting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is being taken to a hospital after collapsing while delivering a speech at a local chamber of commerce. This was at the Saturn Club in Buffalo. It is a private club in the Buffalo area.
Once again, a Buffalo radio station and the Associated Press are reporting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is being taken to the hospital after collapsing while delivering a speech to a local chamber of commerce.
We'll, of course, continue to follow this story and bring you updates as we get additional information. More LIVE FROM after this break.
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HARRIS: To the screams of excited fans. You can hear it in the background now.
CNN's Sean Callebs is following it all from Santa Maria.
Hi, Sean.
CALLEBS: Indeed, Tony. How about that? The spectacle it is, the trial involving Michael Jackson under way here in California. The first step, initial process of jury selection.
Now Jackson and his entourage arrived here about an hour and 15 minutes ago, just five minutes before the court proceedings were scheduled to begin. They bailed out of a couple of black SUVs. Jackson, dressed in white from head to toe, turned and waved to the throng of fans here. And yes, there are a lot of fans here, some from as far as way as Sweden and France.
We couldn't tell if he was wearing an armband. And that is significant, because the prosecution has complained that in the past Jackson has come to court wearing armbands with biblical references or the numbers "777" on them.
Jackson stands accused, among other things, of four counts of child molestation, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent. If convicted, he could receive more than 20 years in prison.
Now Jackson and his attorneys have been highly critical of information, news leaks that have come out ahead of the trial. And just recently Jackson issued a statement on his web site that was approved by the judge critical of all this pre-trial publicity.
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MICHAEL JACKSON, ACCUSED OF CHILD MOLESTATION: Years ago I allowed a family to visit and spend some time at Neverland. Neverland is my home. I allowed this family into my home because they told me their son was ill with cancer and needed my help. Through the years I have helped thousands of children who were ill or in distress.
These events have caused a nightmare for my family, my children and me. I never intend to place myself in so vulnerable a position ever again. I love my community, and I have great faith in our justice system. Please keep an open mind and let me have my day in court. I deserve a fair trial like every other American citizen. I will be acquitted and vindicated when the truth is told. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: The alleged abuse took -- allegedly took place at Jackson's sprawling Neverland Ranch not terribly far from here, involving, as you mentioned, a 13-year-old cancer patient. This dates back to 2003, back in February and March of 2003.
Now, Judge Rodney Melville, the judge in this case, has set a somewhat ambitious schedule for trying to find 12 members of a jury and eight alternates. They plan to go through about 300 people a day: 150 in the morning, 150 in the afternoon. And they're going to excuse those who could not take place due to hardship, and they hope to be able to go through some 750 in the next 2 1/2 days.
Those who are selected must fill out a seven-page questionnaire. Then on Thursday and Friday, Tony, the lawyers will begin going over all those questionnaires, and the initial process of trying to find 12 people to hear the case involving Michael Jackson.
HARRIS: Sean, a couple of questions. A couple of things come to mind. Santa Barbara County, maybe describe that for us, who lives there as we try to get a handle on the jury pool.
CALLEBS: It's a good question, because this actually came up during the grand jury investigation. Jackson's attorneys were critical, because only about two percent of the population here are African-American, and that that time his lawyers alleged that blacks and Hispanics -- and Hispanics make up a pretty good share of the population here -- were systematically excluded from the grand jury process.
Now, since that has happened, Jackson's attorneys said they've been fairly pleased with the fact the trial will be held here. Jackson's lived here for more than a decade. He has over the years employed hundreds of people at his Neverland Ranch. For the most part, he's had a pretty good relationship with this area.
Also, the attorneys like the fact this is a conservative area, one that would lend a somewhat disparaging eye on someone perceived as trying to make a big profit in some kind of trial. So that's one thing that his attorneys are certainly clinging to.
HARRIS: And you will be there watching it all. Sean Callebs, we appreciate it. Thank you.
CALLEBS: Back to you.
HARRIS: We're going to take a break. But when we come back we will update the story of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. As we told you just a couple of minutes ago, the Associated Press, and now CNN, is reporting that the senator collapsed while giving a speech before the Saturn Club, a private chamber of commerce in the Buffalo area.
More LIVE FROM after this, including that update.
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PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is cold, brutal as act as I've witnessed in 25 years of prosecuting.
PHILLIPS: A 12-year-old shoots his grandparents while they sleep. His lawyer blames a prescribed anti-depressant.
Later on LIVE FROM, the flu season strikes the Vatican. Pope John Paul II cancels public appearances. How is the ailing pontiff doing? We're LIVE FROM Rome.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, calling the plays in the NFL. Is a rule requiring teams to interview minorities for coaching jobs helping or hurting them?
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PHILLIPS: More on a story we've been bringing to you within the past five minutes or so. And that is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton collapsing during a speech she was giving in Buffalo.
Our Deb Feyerick working the story there from New York.
What do we know, Deb?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this is what we know so far.
Senator Clinton originally told this crowd that she was speaking to that she was really not feeling well, that she was feeling weak, that she had a stomach virus. And just as she started to speak, all of a sudden she collapsed.
Now, someone close to the senator, we are learning, who was not traveling with her, but that person who is close to the senator tells CNN that this was a 24-hour bug. She was not taken to the hospital as was originally reported. The source telling CNN that really all she needed was just to sit down.
Now the source also says that she really does plan to keep with her schedule this afternoon. She's scheduled to speak at a Catholic college later this afternoon. There were protests that were planned there, even though she was talking not about pro-choice but about health care. There were protests schedule there had right now.
Right now her office saying that she does plan on going through with that. But again, this was just a 24-hour flu, according to sources that we're talking to. She wasn't feeling well. All she needed was to sit down, that according to someone close to her -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Deb Feyerick, live from New York. Thank you so much. We'll continue to check in with you as you get more information on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's, her condition after collapsing during a speech.
HARRIS: To business news now, AT&T, a company with a glorious history dating back to the invention of the telephone, is being bought out by one of its former units.
Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with that story.
Hi, Susan.
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