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CNN Live Today
Investigating Possible Civilian Murders in Haditha; "Shock" Magazine Debuts
Aired May 31, 2006 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, about a half hour from now, we expect to hear from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She'll be giving a speech where she makes a new offer on behalf of the U.S. to sit down at the table with Iran and talk about Iran's nuclear program. There are still some severe conditions for Iran to meet in accepting this. And also we're learning from our Elise Labott at the United Nations that the way this was done, the U.S. wrote this in a letter, handed it through Switzerland to forward it on to Iran. There is a technicality since Iran and the U.S. right now have no formal diplomatic relations. You will see that speech live here at the top of the hour.
On to Iraq, where the body count is rising. Police say they have found at least 40 bodies in Baghdad over the last 24 hours. The victims had been shot in the head. Some showed signs of torture. Iraq's prime minister today declared a month-long state of emergency in Basra. Nouri al-Maliki is visiting the southern Iraqi city. He vows to confront troublemakers there with an iron fist. Basra had been relatively calm, however violence has flared in the last few weeks.
An update now on the investigation into the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha. The incident raises two questions: were there crimes committed and was there a coverup?
Our Kathleen Koch joins me now from the Pentagon. Kathleen, it sounds like, on the basis of that, there's really two investigations going on. What happened and who didn't tell the story?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Quite so. Two parallel investigations. And the Pentagon is not saying much about them, not giving many details, because they don't want to jeopardize either of those investigations. But some new details are emerging that run counter to the marines' initial claim that the 24 civilians who were killed died in the roadside bomb blast that also killed a U.S. marine.
Now, the "New York Times" is reporting that a senior military official in Iraq says the death certificates show all 24 Iraqi victims had gunshot wounds, mostly to the head and chest. Now, the marines involved right now -- allegedly involved -- are at Camp Pendleton. And CNN spoke to one young man who talked about what happened that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CPL. JAMES CROSSAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: They have a tricky situation over there, because the enemy could be anywhere. But if someone does get hurt, you are going to get angry and you are going to want to retaliate. And some decisions that were made were bad ones. So -- I can't speak on behalf of them, because I wasn't conscious at the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Corporal Crossan was not conscious at the time, because he was inside the humvee that was hit. It was split open. He broke his back, had several other serious injuries. Now we are told by sources that when it comes to the investigation, it's substantially complete, and Daryn, could result in charges as serious as murder being filed sometime next month.
KAGAN: Are we hearing any response from the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. about this investigation?
KOCH: Well, Daryn, he arrived in Washington yesterday. He was obviously greeted by the president. Had an interesting take on it. While he condemned the killings, he said that what happened there, allegedly happened, he says he doesn't believe is really indicative of the quote, "honorable job" that he thinks most marines are doing in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR AL-SUMAIDAIE, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: I do believe that for every bad apple, bad marine, there are thousands and thousands of good, good ones, doing a good job, doing the best they can under difficult circumstances. However, it is absolutely imperative that we remove the bad apples and we expose them, and we don't try to cover them up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The ambassador believes some members of his own family have had an encounter with those bad apples. He says he has a young cousin who was intentionally and unnecessarily shot by marines during house-to-house search. And Daryn, he wants a further investigation into that.
KAGAN: Kathleen, thank you. Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon.
Now, we're also hearing from one mother of one of the marines who sent in later to remove some of those bodies from Haditha. She shares his disturbing account. CNN's Dan Simon has details and the story from "PAULA PAULA ZAHN NOW."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lance Corporal Ryan Briones may be a tough Marine, but his mom says, right now, he's fragile.
SUSIE BRIONES, MOTHER OF LANCE CORPORAL RYAN BRIONES: It was horrific. It was a terrible scene. The biggest thing that keeps to his mind is the children, you know, that -- that were there.
SIMON: The children and adults unarmed, allegedly killed by U.S. Marines in his unit. His mother says he had to carry away the body of a little girl, an image he still cannot get out of his mind.
BRIONES: Her head was blown off or something, that her brain splattered on his boots. And that's what affects Ryan the most, is that he had to pick up the child's body to put her in a body bag.
SIMON: Briones told "The Los Angeles Times" he was asked to photograph the scene and ordered to help remove the bodies. He is quoted as saying: "I can still smell the blood. This left something in my head and heart."
Mrs. Briones says she will never forget the phone call she got from her son that day.
BRIONES: It was the hardest phone call that I received. He was calling me and he was telling me some information, that -- but I didn't know what to do with that information.
SIMON (on camera): He told you that he observed these dead bodies, these civilians who had been killed by the U.S. military, did he not?
BRIONES: He said that they had shot them, yes. He did say that, but he wasn't in when they -- when they did the shooting. He wasn't there. He was there to do the cleanup. That's what he was instructed to do.
SIMON (voice-over): Earlier that day, Briones' best friend, Terrazas, was killed in a bomb blast that also wounded another Marine. That bombing allegedly sparked a rampage by members of the unit.
Mrs. Briones says that, in the places where her son went to take pictures and remove the bodies, he saw no survivors.
(on camera): What's going through his mind now, in terms of what happened that day with those civilians, those children being killed?
BRIONES: He's feeling remorseful, even, because he's part of the -- a military group, and he's part of the United States military. And although he has no say-so in anything with regards to giving words or, you know, saying -- giving the command to go and do this or go do that, he's part of that.
SIMON: Briones is back at Camp Pendleton. He's no longer speaking to reporters. It's not clear if his silence is self-imposed. His mother worries that he may never fully recover from what he says he saw in Haditha.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Be sure to tune into "PAULA ZAHN NOW." That's weeknights, 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
Wounded CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier is getting support from those closest to her. Her family and boyfriend arrived today at the U.S. Military Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. A hospital spokeswoman says Dozier was able to acknowledge them even though she remains sedated and on a ventilator. Dozier was wounded, two of her colleagues were killed Monday, in a bombing in Iraq. CBS says all three were wearing helmets, flak jackets and protective eyeglasses at the time of the attack.
Well, Dozier might have never even made it to Landstuhl had she not first been taken to one of the busiest E.R.s in Baghdad. Patients stay fewer than 24 hours, but as CNN's Cal Perry found in this exclusive report, those harried, hectic hours often can mean a lifetime.
A warning for you before we roll this tape. This report includes images that are anything but gentle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Memorial Day in the Green Zone, Baghdad. Every day, the war pulls right up to the front door of the 10th Combat Support Hospital. And on this day, Humvees are bringing this the victims of a car bomb that went off just minutes earlier in central Baghdad. The medical staff are anticipating three wounded. But they know to expect the unexpected.
DR. SAM MEHTA, U.S. ARMY: I have no idea how -- what they are. So, if -- just in case, you don't need to come down now, but if they're all three (INAUDIBLE) I may need you to help with one.
PERRY: They quickly find out it's many more than three casualties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got one thing of blood coming. So, they're getting it now. And it's coming down. So, if you need somebody that needs blood (INAUDIBLE) we will have it.
PERRY (on camera): On Memorial Day, this combat support hospital received eight critical patients, seven U.S. soldiers and CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier.
(voice-over): The soldiers are members of the 4th Infantry Division. Several are still conscious, despite their injuries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a good pulse. (INAUDIBLE)
PERRY: The surgeons and nurses here move at astonishing speed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bag him.
PERRY: But they also find time to offer words of comfort.
MEHTA: We're going to put you to sleep. We will take good care of you, OK? We will get you back home, OK? All right, buddy, hang in here.
PERRY: But before they can think of getting these soldiers home, they have to deal with the trauma and stop the blood loss.
MEHTA: What do you have there?
PERRY: Dr. Sam Mehta and his team are used to bringing soldiers back from the brink of death. But even by their standards, this day has been unique.
MEHTA: For me, Memorial Day will never be the same. While I do remember those who have died for our country in past wars and previous conflicts, for me, this will also be a day that I remember as the memory of people who have lived, because we -- our team saved the life, I believe, of seven soldiers and Ms. Dozier. Those guys are all going home.
PERRY: Cal Perry, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And Cal Perry's report first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." You can watch "AC 360" weeknights at 10:00 Eastern.
So you find a Lottery ticket and it's a winner. Do you keep it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people out there who need the money more than me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Straight ahead, an Army sergeant faced with a big decision over money that's not his? You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news. And if you stay with us, in about 19 minutes, you'll be watching Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She'll be delivering a speech with the U.S., with a new offer to Iran, how they can sit down with talks about the nuclear issue. That's coming up.
Right now, a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Well, think about this, you're at the 7-Eleven, you find a lottery. It's ticket worth $2500! So do you take it and go cash it in, or do you try to track down the owners? That was the question facing a U.S. army sergeant in Bay Shore, New York. His decision, he decided to find the woman who lost the ticket.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. EDWARD BONIBERGER, FOUND LOTTERY TICKET: She gave me a hug, said thank you, offered me a reward, and I just told her just to make a donation to charity, anything for kids or vets from Iraq. If I lost something, I'd want it returned to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The Army sergeant who returned from Iraq eight months ago took the ticket to police, they tracked down the woman; she had no idea she had dropped the ticket.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
KAGAN: We're about 10 minutes away, a little over 10 minutes away from a speech by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the U.S. puts a new offer out there to start talks with Iran over nuclear issues. There's STILL a lot of conditions attached to that offer. You're going to see that speech live here on CNN.
You are watching CNN, the most trusted name news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Derby winner Barbaro seems to be beating the odds again, this time in his recovery, at least for a special visitor. Doctors are celebrating what they say is an incredibly good week of progress. It was just less than two weeks ago that Barbaro shattered his right hind leg at the Preakness. Yesterday he got a visit and a kiss from the jockey who was riding him during the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDGAR PRADO, JOCKEY: I definitely feel a lot better. I'm still, you know, heartbroken, but I'm seeing him doing better in progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Many credit the jockey with saving Barbaro's life. He quickly pulled up on the horse at the first sign that he was injured.
Considered a new chapter in publishing, the magazine is called "Shock." And the high voltage material includes such low brow fare as a human fireball and a rotting corpse. You're about to see for yourself, so be warned, many of the images are definitely disturbing.
Here's Jeanne Moos with the story from "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Looking to be shocked? Not that shocked! Try this.
(on camera): It doesn't live up to its title, I guess?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it is shocking. I want a free copy of it.
MOOS (voice-over): Take "The National Enquirer," add a little "Star" and get in touch with Web sites like rotten.com. OK? That's the recipe for "Shock." MIKE HAMMER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: We find images that most magazines shy away from.
MOOS: Like the photo caption "Blood Bath" showing the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, or the Chinese man shot dead while holding a child hostage with a meat cleaver. Or the woman who set herself on fire to protest alleged racism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if the world needs more, like, gory violence. Because I feel like already people are desensitized.
MOOS: But one person's gory violence is another's...
HAMMER: Dazzling visual imagery.
MOOS: Visual imagery like this.
HAMMER: A dead man rotting. No, it's not Paris Hilton.
MOOS: Actually, it's about the work of forensic scientists.
HAMMER: It's a real dead man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CSI, huh?
MOOS (on camera): That's exactly what it is.
(voice over): Shock also mocks, mocks those celebrity magazines, with quizzes like match celebrity butts to the actual celebrity.
HAMMER: And then there's the animals, they're just like us.
MOOS: That's a takeoff on "Us Weekly" features, "Stars, They're Just Like Us," only "Animals, They're Just Like Us" features a hippo, they takes birth control and a duck leading her babies across a grate, into which they apparently fell. The web site "Gawker" called the new magazine...
(on camera): ... a thing of low brow beauty.
HAMMER: Yes, yes. Well, I thought I was a thing of low brow beauty.
MOOS: "Shock" is put out by a major publisher with titles ranging from "Car and Driver" to "Women's Day" to "El Decor." As for the cover photo, an American soldier carrying a bloody Iraqi child, it's already causing problems. The magazine says it bought the rights from a photo agency. The photographer says the photo is sacred and the agency didn't have the rights. "Shock" is aimed at 18 to 34-year- olds brought up on computer games and Internet photos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good. I think America needs a little shock reality once in a while.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
MOOS (on camera): You're shocked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called "Shock," man.
MOOS: Would you buy this magazine?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wouldn't want it.
MOOS (voice over): At the magazines's Web site, shockyou, they invite readers to send in their own shocking photos. We showed the dead man rotting photo spread to two guys who had just finished chowing down on pizza.
(on camera): Pizza sure looked better than that guy's face, he said.
(voice over): Low brow, that raises eyebrows.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Thank you, Jeanne. Be sure to tune in to "PAULA ZAHN NOW," that's weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
We are just minutes away. About five minutes away, we expect Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to step up to the podium and make a speech about a possible change in relationships between the U.S. and Iran. You're going to see that speech live here on CNN.
You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Time and money. The numbers keep climbing in the search for Jimmy Hoffa. The FBI says it costs about $250,000 to carry out the two-week search of a Michigan horse farm. That includes the demolition and rebuilding of a barn on the property. At the time of Hoffa's 1975 disappearance, the farm was owned by an associate of the teamster's boss. Investigators say no evidence of any kind was found in the search.
Up in smoke. Evidence destroyed on purpose. In a notorious serial killer case, more than 13,000 DNA samples incinerated yesterday in Wichita, Kansas. They had been collected to rule out individuals in the so-called BTK investigation. That spanned about 30 years, until last year. That's when Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to ten killings and was sentenced to life. The judge ordered the DNA swabs to be destroyed.
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