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CNN Live Today
Finger Pointing Continues Over Who's to Blame for Deaths of More Than 330 People in Russia; In War in Iraq, Grim Milestone Appears Imminent
Aired September 07, 2004 - 10:00 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning everyone, from the CNN headquarters here in Atlanta. I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Daryn Kagan.
The U.S. death toll in Iraq nears 1,000. One U.S. soldier was killed in fighting today in the Sadr City section of Baghdad. Eleven American troops were killed in five separate combat incidents yesterday. U.S. military officials have released casualty counts from the last few months in Iraq. More than 200 American troops have been killed since the first of May. Nine hundred ninety-eight U.S. forces have been killed since the start of the war a year and a half ago.
Tens of thousands of Russians are rallying against terrorism in Moscow this hour. Russians are not only angry at terrorists who killed hundreds at a school, but at their own government's handling of the crisis. Critics have questioned the decision to storm the school, and also accused the government of misrepresenting the number of people inside.
Floridians line up for ice, water and gasoline as the effects of Frances lingered. About 3 million customers in Florida have no power. The former hurricane, now tropical depression, is being blamed for 11 deaths in Florida and Georgia. The storm is expected to dump several inches of rain in Georgia, after inundating parts of Florida with more than a foot of rain.
And Bill Clinton is breathing on his own after being taken off a respirator last night. A member of the former president's surgical team says that's a crucial step in his recovery. Clinton is recovering from a successful, quadruple bypass operation in a New York hospital yesterday.
Live this hour. President Bush campaigns in Missouri, the Show- Me State. And what he says in several stops here could determine which way the battleground state swings in the presidential election.
Now overseas, the finger pointing continues over who's to blame for the deaths of more than 330 people in Beslan, Russia, the school there. A huge rally going on right now in Moscow's Red Square may be targeting terrorists, but there's also criticism leveled against the government.
We check in now with CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty.
Jill, people have turned out by the thousands for today's rally. JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: They did. It's one of the biggest rallies that they've ever had down in that area. It's right downtown, right off Red Square and outside the gates of the Kremlin. You have to know it, of course, that this was an officially sanctioned rally. It was organized by the trade unions. And because of that, just like in Soviet times, they can bring out tens of thousands, even 100,000 people at the drop of a hat.
But that's not to diminish some of the feelings of the people there, because obviously there were people who just wanted to come and express their solidarity, express their concern and their grief, in fact for the hundreds and hundreds of people, including children and parents, who died in that hostage crisis.
We were looking at some of the signs that they had, and they were saying, "Bring the killers to justice." "Russia will not be brought to its knees." "Russia against terror." And several signs that were featured prominently on Russian TV, I have to note, "Putin, we are with you."
And speaking of President Putin, he made some striking comments last night, and reported today about the war on terror. And his feeling that there is a double standard going on, a double standard between the United States and the West and Russia. He said that when the -- the question is, terror in the West, these people are called "terrorists." When it happens in Russia, they are often called "freedom fighters." And he said in no uncertain terms, these are not freedom fighters. In fact, here is a quote of what he said.
"Why don't you meet with Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House, engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace? You find it possible to set some limits on your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk with people who are child-killers?"
Very strong words from President Putin, but he's obviously feeling that he's not being treated correctly in the war on terror. He argues that the United States especially -- he was very specific, he said bureaucrats or government officials at the mid-level are meeting with Chechen separatists whom he would describe as terrorists. And that is not right, because they are all terrorists.
So strong words, Betty, coming from President Putin.
NGUYEN: Yes. Very harsh words there. CNN's Jill Dougherty, thank you so much.
Well, a suspect in the Russian school siege says the hostage takers were ordered to start a war. An unidentified man, shown on Russia state television, says the attack was ordered by Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov and Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They gathered us in the woods and the colonel said we should take over a school in Beslan. That was our order and they said that Maskhadov and Basayev gave the order. We were made up of different nationalities; there were Uzbeks, Arabs and even several Chechens. When we asked why we were doing this, what our goal was? The colonel answered us, because we need to start a war across the Caucuses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And we will continue to follow this story throughout the day right here on CNN.
Now, the war in Iraq and a grim milestone now appears imminent. Since the war began, 998 Americans have died in fighting. That U.S. death toll, just shy of 1,000, is a threshold that bears more psychological importance than military. Twelve U.S. troops have been killed across Iraq since yesterday morning. They fell in six different combat incidents, including two roadside bombings, one in Baghdad, another to the north. A convoy was attacked outside Baghdad, and another attack happened inside the capital. But the latest victim was killed in a ferocious battle now raging in Sadr City.
For the latest on this surge in fighting and U.S. casualties, let's go now to Baghdad and an overview from CNN's Diana Muriel -- Diana.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty. Indeed, it's been a very deadly day these past 24 hours, with so many killed, so many wounded. And the fighting at Sadr City, which is a slum district to the northeast of Baghdad, home to around 2 million people, the fighting is continuing there as I speak.
The American forces have been in the area. They've been using their Bradley armored personnel carriers and tanks. One Bradley was damaged in the fighting, and indeed, a tank was damaged as well. The U.S. military have confirmed that one soldier has died and five have been wounded. We've had information from the Iraqi Health Ministry that more than 30 Iraqis -- around 30 Iraqis killed and 200 civilians wounded in the fighting.
From the reports that we've seen from the U.S. forces, it seems there was an incident at least once every half hour during the course of yesterday, late evening and through the early hours of the morning. And as I say, the fighting continues.
They use mostly of rocket-propelled grenades and IED, improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs, which are being used by militiamen/insurgents in that area. Some of them are thought to be the Mehdi militia, which were fighting in Najaf for the rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Sadr City is called Sadr City in honor of his father who was an influential ayatollah, in fact, who worked in that area.
Negotiations between the prime minister's office, the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and representatives from the community of Sadr City have broken down in recent days. It has been relatively quiet in recent days, but the fighting is, as I say, continuing in Sadr City.
In a separate incident today, this morning here in Baghdad, the governor of Baghdad's convoy was attacked by small arms fire and another one of these IEDs, one of these homemade bombs. He survived the attack. We understand that two people were injured. In the television pictures as shown earlier indicated there could have been a fatality. We saw a body bag in those pictures. His convoy was coming under attack, as he traveled through western Baghdad earlier today.
So a very deadly day here in Iraq once again -- Betty.
NGUYEN: No doubt. CNN's Diana Muriel in Baghdad, thank you so much.
The war in Iraq, the war on terrorism, the economy, even the slightest blip on any one issue could decide the presidential race in November. Our latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows the two candidates locked in a statistical dead heat. Forty-nine percent of registered voters say they choose George W. Bush for president. 48 percent say they'd pick John Kerry. The sampling's error range is 3 1/2 percentage points.
Democratic rival John Kerry has for the first time set a tentative time frame for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq should he be elected. Kerry says he would try to have them all home by the end of his first term. He also sharpened his attack against George W. Bush and his policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's that W mean? And now as the president likes to say so often, I figured out, there's nothing complicated about this W. It all comes down to one letter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is it?
KERRY: W, George W. Bush. And what do you think that W stands for? That W stands for wrong! Wrong direction, wrong choices, wrong priorities, wrong judgment for our country.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Kerry's running mate John Edwards also stayed on the offensive against the Bush administration. He says the White House is trying to gloss over a troubled economy by putting, quote, "lipstick on this pig."
Well, the storm that just won't go away, we'll talk about that in a moment.
But we also want to mention that the race is neck and neck, and we are waiting for a live shot this morning in Missouri, where the president is campaigning. We'll bring that to you right now. And as soon as that comes available to us, we'll have it right here on CNN.
Now, to that storm that simply won't go away. Frances leaves a soggy impression, as Floridians work to put their lives back together.
And President Clinton on his way to recovery. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shares what you can learn by not ignoring the warning signs of a potential heart attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: California, it's a nice place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Later outsourcing America, see what happens to people who talk on the phone to Americans a lot of the time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Back to the campaign. The neck and neck race is prompting both Bush and Kerry to focus on the nation's battleground states. One such swing state is Missouri, where the president is campaigning this morning.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president, and joins us now from today's first stop, which is in Lee Summit.
Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. That's right. President Bush is in Lee Summit, Missouri. This is right outside of Kansas City. The president performing very well here; overwhelming support of the president back in 2000. As you know, Senator Kerry does very well in places like Kansas City and St. Louis. President Bush doing very much -- has a great deal of support in other areas outside of that.
But the biggest challenge that the president's going to have is making his case about the economy. A tremendous number of voters in Missouri who have been hard hit, losing their manufacturing jobs. So the president also expected to shoot back at Kerry over the war in Iraq. Kerry yesterday announcing that he had a change in his team. The president characterizing this also is a change in his position when it comes to the war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After voting for the war, but against funding it, after saying he would have voted for the war even knowing everything we know today, my opponent woke up this morning with new campaign advisers, and yet another new position.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: Suddenly he's against it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Now, the biggest challenge for the president, of course, is going to make his case about the economy. Missouri only second to Michigan has seen the largest number of job loss between June and July. Some 23,000 jobs lost within that period, a 2 percent drop. The president is going to make the case saying that his economic plan by reforming the tax code, by keeping those tax cuts permanent, and by supporting small businesses will help change the economy around. That there are already -- we've already seen statistics with job growth, even including in Missouri. Those numbers fluctuating dramatically from month to month.
We should also let you know as well, Betty, President Bush is going to be visiting Florida. Back to Florida again, a key state for the president, as you know. He's going to be surveying the damage from Hurricane Frances. He comes armed with a proposal to Congress that he has submitted asking for an additional $2 billion when it comes to emergency funding -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president today. Thank you.
Stay tuned for more CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Tomorrow, President Bush travels to hurricane ravaged Florida to see the damage first hand. And that toll continues to mount.
CNN correspondent Tom Foreman is in the Florida Panhandle town of Carrabelle; one of Frances' last stop before storming out of the Sunshine State.
Have you seen any sun lately? Boy, it's been a long weekend.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been a long weekend for a lot of people. And they're very, very happy here. A local paper said, "We Dodged A Bullet." And they were right. Look at this. It's a beautiful, sunshiny morning here. There's a little bit of wind blowing around, but they'll take it. The storm shutters are coming down throughout this town and along the coast, as people realize the storm did not come in here. And look at the water now. It's flat and beautiful and they're getting back to business.
But take a look at what happened in the rest of Florida. This is -- well, we'll get to that in just a moment. Basically what happened in this area was, people were ready for a big storm to come in. It did not come through here as expected; we got just the edge of it. And even there, it didn't have the power that people expected.
As it moved north, bigger issues came up. In Tallahassee, there were trees down, some power lost. Further up in Georgia today, more than 50 counties have closed their schools because of all this. Up in the Carolinas, even there is flooding and concerns about storms further north than that. One of the things that is important to remember about a storm like this is it can often cause a lot of destruction and lot of loss of life, much further away than where it began. In fact, even here in Florida, the greatest number of deaths here in the storm happened in auto accidents on rain-slick roads. It's something that you don't think about much. In fact, there's only one death here that was directly attributed to the storm itself, somebody being out in the storm and being killed as a result of that.
So people here in Florida trying to clean up. People here in the Panhandle grateful that they don't have to and they can send their help into the rest of the state -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. CNN's Tom Foreman in the Florida Panhandle today, thank you.
Well, it could have been a close call for President Clinton. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the latest on Clinton's recovery from quadruple bypass surgery.
And exporting America, another side of outsourcing. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Congress returns from its summer recess today. But can we expect any significant action in the eight weeks before the general election?
CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns is on Capitol Hill as lawmakers get back to business.
Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. Obviously right now, the campaign is the focus, not just the presidential campaign, also those various House and Senate races going on all around the country. Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, are working very hard now to try to show that they are in control, and they do have effective leadership. Obviously, the things on the front burner are homeland security, national security and the Defense Department. They're working very hard to try to reform the intelligence community.
Meanwhile, money matters are key right now. The Congressional Budget Office coming out today with a revised downward figure of $422 billion for the projected deficit. A huge number that is revised downward, at the same time it's higher than last year.
On the heels of that, the White House is expected to send to Capitol Hill a $2 billion request to help recover the damage in Florida. That's something else the Congress is going to try to work with very quickly, realizing that Florida is not only hurting it's also key in the electoral picture nationally.
Now, other things going on here on Capitol Hill. There have been some suggestions that they're going to have to try to get through all of the 13 spending bills they do every year. It could be very difficult with the target adjournment date of October 1. That's when Congress would like to go out and start campaigning for November 1. We are being told to expect a lame duck session of Congress after the election to deal with housekeeping matters then.
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: John, I'm reading here that Congress is trying to get those intelligence reforms done in about a month. That doesn't seem like it's much time.
JOHNS: It doesn't seem like much time. It seems very optimistic. There are a number of bills that have already been put in. As a matter of fact, one bill we're expecting to be introduced today with Senator John McCain's name on it, among others. So it will be hard for Congress to do. Nonetheless, they do want to show the voters that they are being responsive, particularly in concerns of national security. So it's a very high priority. We'll see how long it takes to get it done.
NGUYEN: A lot of work to be done. CNN's Joe Johns on Capitol Hill, thank you so much.
Well, straight ahead, Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a live report on how President Clinton is doing and what you can learn from his ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Here are the stories now in the news.
President Bush is in Missouri this morning for the first of three campaign appearances today in the battleground state. Yesterday, he total the Missouri voters that the economy is strong and getting stronger. That drew a scoff from Democrats, with vice presidential candidate John Edwards saying the administration is trying to, quote, "put lipstick on this pig."
In Iraq now, a surge of violence has pushed the number of U.S. combat deaths to 998. That U.S. death toll, just shy of 1,000, was nudged forward by 12 American deaths since yesterday morning. Those troops died in six different combat incidents.
Florida officials say this morning's damage report showed 2.2 million homes and businesses remain without power in the wake of Hurricane Frances. That's more than one in every fourth customers in the state. This morning the storm, now a tropical depression, is plowing through Georgia where a half a million homes and businesses are in the dark.
The Scott Peterson murder trial opens its 15-week today. Testimony resumes this morning after the long holiday weekend. Prosecutors are trying to bolster their central claim that Peterson took the body of his wife Laci out on a boat, and dumped her into San Francisco Bay.
New information is coming out about how close Bill Clinton may have been to suffering from a heart attack. CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been covering the former president's bypass operation and recovery. He joins us now from New York.
How is the president this morning?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He's recovering well. The breathing tube is out. And I should tell you as well we're starting to see some activity from the family. Chelsea Clinton was just leaving a few minutes ago, leaving the hospital there. See the photographers surrounding the car. A good sign perhaps that the family members are starting to leave as well. Listen, a lot of people ask me about the president this morning saying he did come very close to a heart attack, but now he seems to be doing fine. The big name of the game is going to be recovery.
I talked to Dr. Smith, his surgeon, about the recovery. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CRAIG SMITH, PRESIDENT CLINTON'S SURGEON: He's doing just fine this morning. He's extirpated yesterday, came off the breathing machine yesterday. He's sitting up talking and he's having a normal amount of discomfort. But he's actually doing just fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: He went on to say, in fact, that the -- preventing recurrence of his heart disease is also going to be very important for him. Diet, exercise, probably getting out of the hospital by the end of the week, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, ANCHOR: By the end of the week. That's a good sign. I have to ask you, though, will the president see any side effects from this operation?
GUPTA: Well, you know, its that's a good question. And I don't want to -- You never want to undermine the overall recovery of an operation like this.
He's still considered in critical condition. They're going to monitor his heartbeat. They're going to monitor his blood pressure and his overall heart function. There are concerns about things like fever.
There's also concerns in the long run about minor memory problems, or even depression. I talked to Dr. Smith about that, as well. He said while those may occur, they're usually temporary, Betty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: The pressure here is to avoid bad decision-making, because of over concern about doing too much or too little. So that you either become too bold or too timid. So it's the decision-making and judgment that takes the heat here. And fortunately I think it's also one of the things we learn to do. And that is what we mostly struggled with yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Not easy, obviously. Anytime you're operating on someone who is that well known, that well recognized, some considerations by the surgeon. But again, the statistics, the odds very much in the president's favor -- Betty.
NGUYEN: I like the sound of that. All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
Well, John Kerry's campaign had been expecting Bill Clinton to stump for him leading up to election day. But it's too early to tell how long before Clinton will be able to take on that role, due to his recovery.
Clinton's surgeons spoke on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Well, it depends a lot on the job and it depends on the individual. It's one of these things that we really have to individualize.
And it's very hard to know from where I sit or where Dr. Schwarz -- where Dr. Schwarz sits, what are the stresses of anybody's job. They know the job better than we do.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Yes.
SMITH: I try to be relatively flexible with that. But how soon he can go back to work will have a lot to do with how well he can control the environment he's going into.
If he's going to step into a campaign scene where he's got to be 110 percent, 47 hours running, he's not going to be able to do that for awhile. If it's a thing that he can kind of glide into it and take it sort of halfway for a week or two, he might be able to do it sooner. But it's very hard to generalize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And we'll have more on this story, of course, throughout the day right here on CNN.
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Aired September 7, 2004 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning everyone, from the CNN headquarters here in Atlanta. I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Daryn Kagan.
The U.S. death toll in Iraq nears 1,000. One U.S. soldier was killed in fighting today in the Sadr City section of Baghdad. Eleven American troops were killed in five separate combat incidents yesterday. U.S. military officials have released casualty counts from the last few months in Iraq. More than 200 American troops have been killed since the first of May. Nine hundred ninety-eight U.S. forces have been killed since the start of the war a year and a half ago.
Tens of thousands of Russians are rallying against terrorism in Moscow this hour. Russians are not only angry at terrorists who killed hundreds at a school, but at their own government's handling of the crisis. Critics have questioned the decision to storm the school, and also accused the government of misrepresenting the number of people inside.
Floridians line up for ice, water and gasoline as the effects of Frances lingered. About 3 million customers in Florida have no power. The former hurricane, now tropical depression, is being blamed for 11 deaths in Florida and Georgia. The storm is expected to dump several inches of rain in Georgia, after inundating parts of Florida with more than a foot of rain.
And Bill Clinton is breathing on his own after being taken off a respirator last night. A member of the former president's surgical team says that's a crucial step in his recovery. Clinton is recovering from a successful, quadruple bypass operation in a New York hospital yesterday.
Live this hour. President Bush campaigns in Missouri, the Show- Me State. And what he says in several stops here could determine which way the battleground state swings in the presidential election.
Now overseas, the finger pointing continues over who's to blame for the deaths of more than 330 people in Beslan, Russia, the school there. A huge rally going on right now in Moscow's Red Square may be targeting terrorists, but there's also criticism leveled against the government.
We check in now with CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty.
Jill, people have turned out by the thousands for today's rally. JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: They did. It's one of the biggest rallies that they've ever had down in that area. It's right downtown, right off Red Square and outside the gates of the Kremlin. You have to know it, of course, that this was an officially sanctioned rally. It was organized by the trade unions. And because of that, just like in Soviet times, they can bring out tens of thousands, even 100,000 people at the drop of a hat.
But that's not to diminish some of the feelings of the people there, because obviously there were people who just wanted to come and express their solidarity, express their concern and their grief, in fact for the hundreds and hundreds of people, including children and parents, who died in that hostage crisis.
We were looking at some of the signs that they had, and they were saying, "Bring the killers to justice." "Russia will not be brought to its knees." "Russia against terror." And several signs that were featured prominently on Russian TV, I have to note, "Putin, we are with you."
And speaking of President Putin, he made some striking comments last night, and reported today about the war on terror. And his feeling that there is a double standard going on, a double standard between the United States and the West and Russia. He said that when the -- the question is, terror in the West, these people are called "terrorists." When it happens in Russia, they are often called "freedom fighters." And he said in no uncertain terms, these are not freedom fighters. In fact, here is a quote of what he said.
"Why don't you meet with Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House, engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace? You find it possible to set some limits on your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk with people who are child-killers?"
Very strong words from President Putin, but he's obviously feeling that he's not being treated correctly in the war on terror. He argues that the United States especially -- he was very specific, he said bureaucrats or government officials at the mid-level are meeting with Chechen separatists whom he would describe as terrorists. And that is not right, because they are all terrorists.
So strong words, Betty, coming from President Putin.
NGUYEN: Yes. Very harsh words there. CNN's Jill Dougherty, thank you so much.
Well, a suspect in the Russian school siege says the hostage takers were ordered to start a war. An unidentified man, shown on Russia state television, says the attack was ordered by Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov and Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They gathered us in the woods and the colonel said we should take over a school in Beslan. That was our order and they said that Maskhadov and Basayev gave the order. We were made up of different nationalities; there were Uzbeks, Arabs and even several Chechens. When we asked why we were doing this, what our goal was? The colonel answered us, because we need to start a war across the Caucuses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And we will continue to follow this story throughout the day right here on CNN.
Now, the war in Iraq and a grim milestone now appears imminent. Since the war began, 998 Americans have died in fighting. That U.S. death toll, just shy of 1,000, is a threshold that bears more psychological importance than military. Twelve U.S. troops have been killed across Iraq since yesterday morning. They fell in six different combat incidents, including two roadside bombings, one in Baghdad, another to the north. A convoy was attacked outside Baghdad, and another attack happened inside the capital. But the latest victim was killed in a ferocious battle now raging in Sadr City.
For the latest on this surge in fighting and U.S. casualties, let's go now to Baghdad and an overview from CNN's Diana Muriel -- Diana.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty. Indeed, it's been a very deadly day these past 24 hours, with so many killed, so many wounded. And the fighting at Sadr City, which is a slum district to the northeast of Baghdad, home to around 2 million people, the fighting is continuing there as I speak.
The American forces have been in the area. They've been using their Bradley armored personnel carriers and tanks. One Bradley was damaged in the fighting, and indeed, a tank was damaged as well. The U.S. military have confirmed that one soldier has died and five have been wounded. We've had information from the Iraqi Health Ministry that more than 30 Iraqis -- around 30 Iraqis killed and 200 civilians wounded in the fighting.
From the reports that we've seen from the U.S. forces, it seems there was an incident at least once every half hour during the course of yesterday, late evening and through the early hours of the morning. And as I say, the fighting continues.
They use mostly of rocket-propelled grenades and IED, improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs, which are being used by militiamen/insurgents in that area. Some of them are thought to be the Mehdi militia, which were fighting in Najaf for the rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Sadr City is called Sadr City in honor of his father who was an influential ayatollah, in fact, who worked in that area.
Negotiations between the prime minister's office, the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and representatives from the community of Sadr City have broken down in recent days. It has been relatively quiet in recent days, but the fighting is, as I say, continuing in Sadr City.
In a separate incident today, this morning here in Baghdad, the governor of Baghdad's convoy was attacked by small arms fire and another one of these IEDs, one of these homemade bombs. He survived the attack. We understand that two people were injured. In the television pictures as shown earlier indicated there could have been a fatality. We saw a body bag in those pictures. His convoy was coming under attack, as he traveled through western Baghdad earlier today.
So a very deadly day here in Iraq once again -- Betty.
NGUYEN: No doubt. CNN's Diana Muriel in Baghdad, thank you so much.
The war in Iraq, the war on terrorism, the economy, even the slightest blip on any one issue could decide the presidential race in November. Our latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows the two candidates locked in a statistical dead heat. Forty-nine percent of registered voters say they choose George W. Bush for president. 48 percent say they'd pick John Kerry. The sampling's error range is 3 1/2 percentage points.
Democratic rival John Kerry has for the first time set a tentative time frame for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq should he be elected. Kerry says he would try to have them all home by the end of his first term. He also sharpened his attack against George W. Bush and his policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's that W mean? And now as the president likes to say so often, I figured out, there's nothing complicated about this W. It all comes down to one letter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is it?
KERRY: W, George W. Bush. And what do you think that W stands for? That W stands for wrong! Wrong direction, wrong choices, wrong priorities, wrong judgment for our country.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Kerry's running mate John Edwards also stayed on the offensive against the Bush administration. He says the White House is trying to gloss over a troubled economy by putting, quote, "lipstick on this pig."
Well, the storm that just won't go away, we'll talk about that in a moment.
But we also want to mention that the race is neck and neck, and we are waiting for a live shot this morning in Missouri, where the president is campaigning. We'll bring that to you right now. And as soon as that comes available to us, we'll have it right here on CNN.
Now, to that storm that simply won't go away. Frances leaves a soggy impression, as Floridians work to put their lives back together.
And President Clinton on his way to recovery. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shares what you can learn by not ignoring the warning signs of a potential heart attack.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: California, it's a nice place.
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NGUYEN: Later outsourcing America, see what happens to people who talk on the phone to Americans a lot of the time.
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NGUYEN: Back to the campaign. The neck and neck race is prompting both Bush and Kerry to focus on the nation's battleground states. One such swing state is Missouri, where the president is campaigning this morning.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president, and joins us now from today's first stop, which is in Lee Summit.
Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. That's right. President Bush is in Lee Summit, Missouri. This is right outside of Kansas City. The president performing very well here; overwhelming support of the president back in 2000. As you know, Senator Kerry does very well in places like Kansas City and St. Louis. President Bush doing very much -- has a great deal of support in other areas outside of that.
But the biggest challenge that the president's going to have is making his case about the economy. A tremendous number of voters in Missouri who have been hard hit, losing their manufacturing jobs. So the president also expected to shoot back at Kerry over the war in Iraq. Kerry yesterday announcing that he had a change in his team. The president characterizing this also is a change in his position when it comes to the war on terror.
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GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After voting for the war, but against funding it, after saying he would have voted for the war even knowing everything we know today, my opponent woke up this morning with new campaign advisers, and yet another new position.
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BUSH: Suddenly he's against it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Now, the biggest challenge for the president, of course, is going to make his case about the economy. Missouri only second to Michigan has seen the largest number of job loss between June and July. Some 23,000 jobs lost within that period, a 2 percent drop. The president is going to make the case saying that his economic plan by reforming the tax code, by keeping those tax cuts permanent, and by supporting small businesses will help change the economy around. That there are already -- we've already seen statistics with job growth, even including in Missouri. Those numbers fluctuating dramatically from month to month.
We should also let you know as well, Betty, President Bush is going to be visiting Florida. Back to Florida again, a key state for the president, as you know. He's going to be surveying the damage from Hurricane Frances. He comes armed with a proposal to Congress that he has submitted asking for an additional $2 billion when it comes to emergency funding -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president today. Thank you.
Stay tuned for more CNN LIVE TODAY.
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NGUYEN: Tomorrow, President Bush travels to hurricane ravaged Florida to see the damage first hand. And that toll continues to mount.
CNN correspondent Tom Foreman is in the Florida Panhandle town of Carrabelle; one of Frances' last stop before storming out of the Sunshine State.
Have you seen any sun lately? Boy, it's been a long weekend.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been a long weekend for a lot of people. And they're very, very happy here. A local paper said, "We Dodged A Bullet." And they were right. Look at this. It's a beautiful, sunshiny morning here. There's a little bit of wind blowing around, but they'll take it. The storm shutters are coming down throughout this town and along the coast, as people realize the storm did not come in here. And look at the water now. It's flat and beautiful and they're getting back to business.
But take a look at what happened in the rest of Florida. This is -- well, we'll get to that in just a moment. Basically what happened in this area was, people were ready for a big storm to come in. It did not come through here as expected; we got just the edge of it. And even there, it didn't have the power that people expected.
As it moved north, bigger issues came up. In Tallahassee, there were trees down, some power lost. Further up in Georgia today, more than 50 counties have closed their schools because of all this. Up in the Carolinas, even there is flooding and concerns about storms further north than that. One of the things that is important to remember about a storm like this is it can often cause a lot of destruction and lot of loss of life, much further away than where it began. In fact, even here in Florida, the greatest number of deaths here in the storm happened in auto accidents on rain-slick roads. It's something that you don't think about much. In fact, there's only one death here that was directly attributed to the storm itself, somebody being out in the storm and being killed as a result of that.
So people here in Florida trying to clean up. People here in the Panhandle grateful that they don't have to and they can send their help into the rest of the state -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. CNN's Tom Foreman in the Florida Panhandle today, thank you.
Well, it could have been a close call for President Clinton. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the latest on Clinton's recovery from quadruple bypass surgery.
And exporting America, another side of outsourcing. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Congress returns from its summer recess today. But can we expect any significant action in the eight weeks before the general election?
CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns is on Capitol Hill as lawmakers get back to business.
Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. Obviously right now, the campaign is the focus, not just the presidential campaign, also those various House and Senate races going on all around the country. Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, are working very hard now to try to show that they are in control, and they do have effective leadership. Obviously, the things on the front burner are homeland security, national security and the Defense Department. They're working very hard to try to reform the intelligence community.
Meanwhile, money matters are key right now. The Congressional Budget Office coming out today with a revised downward figure of $422 billion for the projected deficit. A huge number that is revised downward, at the same time it's higher than last year.
On the heels of that, the White House is expected to send to Capitol Hill a $2 billion request to help recover the damage in Florida. That's something else the Congress is going to try to work with very quickly, realizing that Florida is not only hurting it's also key in the electoral picture nationally.
Now, other things going on here on Capitol Hill. There have been some suggestions that they're going to have to try to get through all of the 13 spending bills they do every year. It could be very difficult with the target adjournment date of October 1. That's when Congress would like to go out and start campaigning for November 1. We are being told to expect a lame duck session of Congress after the election to deal with housekeeping matters then.
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: John, I'm reading here that Congress is trying to get those intelligence reforms done in about a month. That doesn't seem like it's much time.
JOHNS: It doesn't seem like much time. It seems very optimistic. There are a number of bills that have already been put in. As a matter of fact, one bill we're expecting to be introduced today with Senator John McCain's name on it, among others. So it will be hard for Congress to do. Nonetheless, they do want to show the voters that they are being responsive, particularly in concerns of national security. So it's a very high priority. We'll see how long it takes to get it done.
NGUYEN: A lot of work to be done. CNN's Joe Johns on Capitol Hill, thank you so much.
Well, straight ahead, Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a live report on how President Clinton is doing and what you can learn from his ordeal.
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NGUYEN: Here are the stories now in the news.
President Bush is in Missouri this morning for the first of three campaign appearances today in the battleground state. Yesterday, he total the Missouri voters that the economy is strong and getting stronger. That drew a scoff from Democrats, with vice presidential candidate John Edwards saying the administration is trying to, quote, "put lipstick on this pig."
In Iraq now, a surge of violence has pushed the number of U.S. combat deaths to 998. That U.S. death toll, just shy of 1,000, was nudged forward by 12 American deaths since yesterday morning. Those troops died in six different combat incidents.
Florida officials say this morning's damage report showed 2.2 million homes and businesses remain without power in the wake of Hurricane Frances. That's more than one in every fourth customers in the state. This morning the storm, now a tropical depression, is plowing through Georgia where a half a million homes and businesses are in the dark.
The Scott Peterson murder trial opens its 15-week today. Testimony resumes this morning after the long holiday weekend. Prosecutors are trying to bolster their central claim that Peterson took the body of his wife Laci out on a boat, and dumped her into San Francisco Bay.
New information is coming out about how close Bill Clinton may have been to suffering from a heart attack. CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been covering the former president's bypass operation and recovery. He joins us now from New York.
How is the president this morning?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He's recovering well. The breathing tube is out. And I should tell you as well we're starting to see some activity from the family. Chelsea Clinton was just leaving a few minutes ago, leaving the hospital there. See the photographers surrounding the car. A good sign perhaps that the family members are starting to leave as well. Listen, a lot of people ask me about the president this morning saying he did come very close to a heart attack, but now he seems to be doing fine. The big name of the game is going to be recovery.
I talked to Dr. Smith, his surgeon, about the recovery. This is what he had to say.
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DR. CRAIG SMITH, PRESIDENT CLINTON'S SURGEON: He's doing just fine this morning. He's extirpated yesterday, came off the breathing machine yesterday. He's sitting up talking and he's having a normal amount of discomfort. But he's actually doing just fine.
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GUPTA: He went on to say, in fact, that the -- preventing recurrence of his heart disease is also going to be very important for him. Diet, exercise, probably getting out of the hospital by the end of the week, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, ANCHOR: By the end of the week. That's a good sign. I have to ask you, though, will the president see any side effects from this operation?
GUPTA: Well, you know, its that's a good question. And I don't want to -- You never want to undermine the overall recovery of an operation like this.
He's still considered in critical condition. They're going to monitor his heartbeat. They're going to monitor his blood pressure and his overall heart function. There are concerns about things like fever.
There's also concerns in the long run about minor memory problems, or even depression. I talked to Dr. Smith about that, as well. He said while those may occur, they're usually temporary, Betty.
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SMITH: The pressure here is to avoid bad decision-making, because of over concern about doing too much or too little. So that you either become too bold or too timid. So it's the decision-making and judgment that takes the heat here. And fortunately I think it's also one of the things we learn to do. And that is what we mostly struggled with yesterday.
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GUPTA: Not easy, obviously. Anytime you're operating on someone who is that well known, that well recognized, some considerations by the surgeon. But again, the statistics, the odds very much in the president's favor -- Betty.
NGUYEN: I like the sound of that. All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
Well, John Kerry's campaign had been expecting Bill Clinton to stump for him leading up to election day. But it's too early to tell how long before Clinton will be able to take on that role, due to his recovery.
Clinton's surgeons spoke on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night.
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SMITH: Well, it depends a lot on the job and it depends on the individual. It's one of these things that we really have to individualize.
And it's very hard to know from where I sit or where Dr. Schwarz -- where Dr. Schwarz sits, what are the stresses of anybody's job. They know the job better than we do.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Yes.
SMITH: I try to be relatively flexible with that. But how soon he can go back to work will have a lot to do with how well he can control the environment he's going into.
If he's going to step into a campaign scene where he's got to be 110 percent, 47 hours running, he's not going to be able to do that for awhile. If it's a thing that he can kind of glide into it and take it sort of halfway for a week or two, he might be able to do it sooner. But it's very hard to generalize.
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NGUYEN: And we'll have more on this story, of course, throughout the day right here on CNN.
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